


Sinless Captor and Sinful Captive

by fob_Benzedrine23, ZoeyAndGuys



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood, Body Horror, F/M, Inanimate Objects, Injury, Injury Recovery, Magic-Users, Mild Blood, Minor Violence, Multi, Nightmares, Non-Graphic Violence, One-Sided Attraction, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, So here we are, Then my sis said we should make a story of it, This started out as just a random rp idea because I'm strange, Transformation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:28:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 28,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23299345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fob_Benzedrine23/pseuds/fob_Benzedrine23, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoeyAndGuys/pseuds/ZoeyAndGuys
Summary: (This in an AU idea that has nothing to do with the actual story line to the game. Any unknown characters are owned by me, unless stated otherwise. Any other characters in the batim fandom, via the game, are owned by TheMeatly. Warnings : Mild violence, and randomness)Joey faces his past crimes as it finally catches up to him, while Henry is forced to keep an eye on Joey as he deals with his punishment. However, an unknown force will soon catch up to the pair, ready to deal damage to all those that oppose it's power.
Relationships: "Bendy" | Ink Bendy & Original Female Character(s), Henry Stein/Linda Stein, Lacie Benton/Bertrum Piedmont
Comments: 47
Kudos: 19





	1. Prologue

Years of a friendship, a near brotherly bond, split apart from two very different ideals. One wishing to do more than a silly cartoon made between two Best Friends, while the other wanting to expand the world of the Devil Darling the two had made together.

The friends had grown apart, and the younger of the two had chosen to leave, not wanting to continue a life of animations that he had created, but to expand his knowledge and grow with a family of his own. The older of the two had grown distant from the other, choosing to continue their ‘legacy’, while making terrible mistakes along the way. In 1931, Henry Stein had left Joey Drew Studios for good, not aware of the horrors the employees would face for quite some time until his return.

Thirty years later, Henry had received a letter from Joey, whom had not contacted him for a long time, asking to meet at the once thriving studio. Henry had faced many horrors as he unlocked the secrets that Joey had kept from the outside world, putting puzzle pieces together and had unknowingly been sucked into a seemingly endless time loop. Henry had seen all the souls that suffered from Joey’s perfection, while unwillingly making them suffer more. Not even the little Devil Darling was spared from the turmoil, becoming a twisted and much darker creature of his former self.

After quite some time, Henry had stopped the time loop. During one of the runs he had a sudden thought to not harm any of the souls that had been trapped within the Hell they called a ‘Home’, and believed that it would stop the loops forever, facing the Ink Demon once more, but with a proposition. However, Henry was unaware of an outside force that had given him the chance to make the decision a final one, and because of the force it allowed Henry to get the souls out of the studio along with his own creation. Unfortunately, there were drawbacks from the release. The souls were still within their inky forms, some believing that it was another part of the curse they had been forced to go through for so long. Others think that it was a sign that they were meant to be this way.

Whatever the case may be, they were all happy to be out of the studio after so many years.Though there was the case of one Mr. Joey Drew. After they had all been released, Henry had went to the police to file a missing persons report, thus beginning a long battle of lawsuit, getting the help some of the souls needed after having gone slightly insane for so long, and a custody battle as well, if you will, seeing as how Henry and Joey both own Bendy’s name. It was a stroke of luck that Henry had won the Custody part of the battle.

Now, Henry is sitting within a Jury room, deciding the fate of Joey Drew amongst two Attorneys who had helped him during the case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prologue chapter is short, but that's also so we don't give too much away for the actual story. If you like this or any other fandom, such as Undertale, please check out Benzedrine's story Beastly Tidings.


	2. Chapter 1

Joey had been found out when Henry had escaped the studio, setting the ink creatures free, and now was waiting in a cell after the not-as-necessary court hearing. He wanted to claim Rhonda, a being of unimagined power, had tricked or even forced him, but he wasn’t sure how to prove she existed since she hadn’t been around after everything that had happened. He was dreading what they would decide for his punishment, since they found his spellbook and seemed very keen on using them against him.

Henry, meanwhile, was going through some stuff in Joey’s house. The court wanted him to take the role of a captor, or a personal Warden, for Joey for the spell they wanted to use on him, but Henry wasn’t sure. That is, until he found hidden plans that belonged to Joey. Apparently, he had planned on making Henry desperate enough that Joey would offer him a deal to let him free from the time loop if he agreed to leave Linda and his family and spend the rest of his life as; “Mine and mine alone’. That filled him with a mix of creeped out and rage, enough for him to agree to the deal the court made.

Henry had returned to the Courthouse, sitting in a room the Jury used when deciding what they would give the poor soul on the stand as their judgement, ready to give his final decision to an Attorney that was walking into the room followed by two officers who stayed near the door with another Attorney that held the spellbook, setting his briefcase on the table.

“Have you made a decision?” The short, chubby man had asked, pulling out a single sheet of paper with a black pen, setting it in front of Henry.

Henry glanced at it, then up at the man with a slight nod. “I’ll do it.” He answered, as he was instructed to sign the paper.

“For legal purposes.” The taller man, who was wearing a brown fedora, by the door, had insisted rather pathetically, but Henry had gone with it anyway, giving his signature as the shorter of the two had given a nod to the officers near the door.

The two officers had left to get Joey Drew as the two Attorney’s had shown Henry to a specific room that had been built to withstand the spell they had been intending to use. Inside was an everyday looking room, with a wooden table and a single metal chair, with the glass being made for a one way view, but with some added adjustments. They had built it to cast the spell safely from behind the glass, where the Attorneys now stood behind, with Henry standing beside them.

“Allow me to explain the spell. It will transform Joey Drew into a default form, which will be an Audio Log, and bind the properties of his form and senses to you. After which, you can transform Mr. Drew into almost any inanimate object with his spirit fully intact. You can choose to let him speak to the world, mute him to everyone but you, or mute him in general. You’ll basically have him as a tool for anything in your normal life.”

Henry nodded slightly. “As far as I’m concerned, I may just keep him as an Audio Log just to spite him.” He said bitterly, still reeling over what his ex Best Friend had been planning to do to him.

Soon the officers came and quickly tossed Joey into the room before walking out and locking the door behind them. Joey raced to the door and began to bang on it slightly.

“Let me out now!” He growled, confused and not liking the treatment the officers had given him.

“They’re not going to, Joey.” Henry stated, as the short Attorney pressed a button beside the window, allowing Henry to speak, while he glared at the man he once saw as a brother.

Joey tried to look at Henry through the one way mirror, glaring. “When I get out of this I’m gonna- Wait. What’s that spell they're chanting?!” 

Joey panicked as fear consumed him while a bright light filled the room. Henry felt something in him split for a moment as if he got connected with something. When the light died down, only an audio log remained on the floor slightly poking out from the clothing Joey was wearing about half a minute ago.

“You can go in now, it’s safe.” The tall Attorney informed Henry, who nodded, walking into the room to pick up the audio log.

Joey panicked and tried to jump up and race out of the room, but his body refused to budge even the slightest bit. He saw the now much taller Henry enter his vision and gulped slightly, before shouting in his now staticy voice,

“What happened? What did you do to me?!”

Henry gazed down at Joey with a blank look.

“I didn’t do anything to you, but the actions and the suffering you caused everyone else? That did. This is your sentence the court had come up with.” He informed the now Audio log Joey, venom in his voice.

Joey internally shuddered, realizing the things he had done would catch up to him sooner or later. After all, Karma is a foe no one should trifle with in their life, as she can be downright cruel if she chose to be. He tried to get up, but he couldn’t move his arms or legs, he failed to realize he didn’t have any of his limbs, not liking how cold his body felt. He finally took a glance down at himself with his limited vision, and he felt his, now figurative, heart drop when he saw the familiar audio log form enter his sight. He realized now what spell they used, as it was the only transformation spell he knew of.

“N-No-Not this- You can’t! I’m not an object!” He shouted, trying to sound angry, but fear was very noticeable in his voice.

Henry narrowed his eyes at the audio log.

“And yet, you treated the others like they were.” Henry stated firmly.

Joey growled lowly, the sound giving off a staticy sound like gears grinding within the machine, and yelped as he was grabbed by the short Attorney, his body heat flooding into Joey in an uncomfortable way.

“Henry Stein will be your captor, and will have a completed control of what your form becomes and how he can use it. No matter what it is.” The chubby man informed the audio log, handing him over to Henry.

Joey looked at Henry fearfully, though luck was on his side as no one could tell since he no longer had a face. Henry had rose a brow at him, somehow understanding how the, once human, audio log felt about him. He was unaware of the fact that his soul had been connected to Joey’s, thus allowing the pair to feel the others emotions, but on a very small scale.  
“You better get home Stein, it’s getting late.” The taller Attorney stated, fixing his fedora while grabbing his brown pinstripe coat and his suitcase, standing by the exit.

Henry nodded, taking Joey. “Thank you for the help..” He trailed off slightly, unsure of the man’s name.

“Darius. Darius Lowe.” Darius chuckled, tipping his hat slightly as he left, leaving with a final goodbye to his fellow Attorney,

“Tell the wife I said hello, Damion.” 

Damion gave a nod, as he glanced at Henry, leaving as well. 

Joey looked at Henry again, calmed down slightly. _‘Henry wouldn’t do anything too crazy to me. He wouldn’t turn me into different things to make me feel awful in so many different ways as payback. He could never be that mad… Could he?’_ He thought, reassuring himself of something that he was oh-so wrong about.


	3. Chapter 2

Henry had made it to the bus stop, after hastily leaving the courthouse, putting Joey in the knapsack he had brought, with his papers that he kept with him inside as well, patiently waiting for the bus as he glanced up at the sky, which had begun to look far more cloudy than it had before, hearing the faint rumble of thunder in the distance. A warning to those without any protection against the harsh rain soon to come.

Joey let out a slight shout as he was put in the knapsack, being surrounded by papers and other items. As he looked around the dark space, he could see faint light coming from one side of the bag, showing the faint outline of papers and pens in the bag with him. The bag started to swing suddenly, as Joey was unaware of Henry climbing onto the bus, letting out a few yelps of surprise as he was jolted from side to side.

Henry rolled his eyes slightly, having already muted Joey from everyone else so only he could hear him, as he made his way to an open seat near a window.

It was quiet on the bus, as most of the people had just got off from a long shift at the office or heading to their next shift at another office. He looked around, seeing a mother with her infant, who was sleeping soundly, as a young couple were whispering to one another, quiet laughter breaking out every now and then from what the other had whispered.

“Henry, let me out!” Joey shouted slightly as he fell into the side of the knapsack, getting buried in papers. He was a bit annoyed at how apparently movement caused things in bags to get messed with far more than people actually realized.

Henry sighed angrily as he thought of Joey turning into a Pencil to stop him from moving around. He looked out the window as the bus started to move, a silent reassurance to him that he would be home soon.

Joey was surprised when there was a flash of light, only to realize what happened once the light had died down. Amongst the papers he sat as a pencil, and was close to panicking when he noticed his lead tip was stuck in the bag slightly from the movement and the shift from one item to another, but it was enough to stop him from moving.

“Not what I was expecting, but I suppose that solves the problem.”

Henry huffed, rolling his eyes, ignoring Joey the rest of the way to his bus stop. Soon the bus gave a slight lurch and whine as it came to a stop where Henry needed it as he hopped off the bus. He was only one block away from his house, and used the time to walk, enjoying the peace from the usually noisy city, wondering what Linda and the kids had been doing all day while he was out.

“How much longer till we get to your house?” Joey asked, annoyed still from what he had to go through.

“However long it takes.” Henry replied in answer to the question, smirking slightly as he felt the annoyance coming from Joey.

Joey grumbled as he stayed still in the bag. He was honestly worried a bit, as the lead felt like it was close to either getting loose or breaking from how it was stuck in the bag. _‘Please don’t let my led break.’_ He thought silently.

Henry sighed, pulling him out of the bag. Of all the people he had to be ‘Captor’ of, it had to be the one who complained too much, but then again, it’s not like he didn’t do any of it when he was human and running the studio either.

“Thanks.. Can you turn me back into an audio log now? I don’t like it, but I prefer it over a pencil.” Joey asked.

Henry sighed, picturing Joey as an audio log.

Joey sighed softly in relief as he turned back. “Thanks.. Henry…”

“Sure.” Henry huffed, continuing to walk, as he spotted his house from where he was.

Only a few lights were as he walked into the door, music playing softly from the radio in the sitting room. Coming from around the corner from the Kitchen, his youngest daughter Luna ran at him as she jumped up and hugged him.

“Daddy!” She shouted, as Joey felt it ring in his non-existent ears.

Henry smiled as he returned the hug, picking her up and holding her with one arm. “Hey sweetheart. Were you good for mommy today?” He asked her, tapping her nose playfully, chuckling when she started giggling.

“Bendy was good too.” She said while nodding happily. After hearing the name, Joey wished he could have the ability to pale in this new form, and glanced at Henry.

“The ink demon lives with you?” He asked exasperatedly.

Henry nodded silently, as if satisfied with what Luna had told him, but was also silently answering Joey’s question.

“Alright let’s go see what Mommy’s doing, huh? I’m sure she’s got dinner ready by now, and you were supposed to be at the table?” He asked, raising a brow at his daughter lightly.

Joey gulped, realizing his situation was worse than he thought. 

“Alright.” Luna giggled, as she let go, heading into the kitchen quickly as a conversation started up once more. This time it was far more excited.

Henry followed slowly behind Luna, glancing down at Joey.

“I’m not telling my wife and kids about this, but Bendy will hear of this.” He told him firmly.

“Please don’t! He’ll torture me in any possible way, in any form I’m in!”Joey shouted, and would have ran away if he could’ve. All he was now, though, was an object. One that couldn’t run or really make any decisions. The world around him choosing every part of his fate.

Henry sighed, shaking his head. “Fine. Despite how much you actually deserve it, after everything you’d done to him, I won’t tell Bendy what had happened to you.” Henry told Joey, as he walked into the kitchen, smiling at the scene before him.

Audrey giggled from the table as Luna tried to remove one of her scarves, from a play set they had gotten her for her birthday, from Bendy’s neck, as it was stuck.

“Okay, maybe I should have listened to you about fabric sticking to ink…” Luna told Audrey with a grunt as she pulled again.

Linda shook her head as she chuckled at the sight, glancing at Henry with a smile. She looked tired and ready to head to their room to sleep the rest of the night away. Henry shook his head with a smile, and walked over, deciding to let Linda to tap out for the moment, chuckling once more as he stood next to Luna.

“Need any help?” He asked the girl, who nodded, the pigtails Linda had put her hair bounced from the movement. Joey would have been shaking in fear if he could, being so close to Bendy and all.

Bendy glanced at Henry, who was getting his hands around the scarf after he sat an audio log on the table with his bag, and watched. “Where have you been?” He asked curiously.

“Had some business to take care of, I’ll explain more in my study.” Henry said, carefully getting the scarf off, as he’d done it before when Luna had done the same thing once before.

Linda walked over once he was done and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek slightly. Joey got envious as he watched, but said nothing, growling internally.

Henry smiled down at Linda, chuckling. “Eventful day?” He asked her, tilting his head slightly.

“Just answering some of Bendy’s strange questions about things he read in some book. With the slight chaos they caused in the backyard, nothing really.” She said with a chuckle.

Henry chuckled, glancing at Bendy.

“Really?” He asked, raising a brow, as the ink demon across from Luna shrugged slightly.

Joey blocked out the family’s conversation as they went on with dinner, contemplating his existence and any possible way he could get away. He didn’t notice dinner had ended until Henry grabbed him and brought him to his study and noticed Bendy was behind them.

“No! Wait! I don’t want him to know!” He said to Henry, still scared despite the amount of time he had to calm down. Maybe it’s the fact that, despite the fact that Bendy was unaware of things when he was created all those years ago, and seemed to not understand anything, understood the meaning of revenge. That fact leaving a harsh thought running through his mind that Bendy would undoubtedly try to in-act his revenge once he found out.

Henry sighed. “Why not?”

“He’ll make this life much harder than it needs to be. He’s probably fueled by the need to end me if he ever saw me!” The former man shouted, and would have struggled to get free if he had the option.

“Fine, I’ll at least tell him what I was doing at the courthouse, but I won’t tell him what had actually happened.” Henry huffed, opening his study door.

“Thank you.” Joey said, sighing in relief.

As they walked into Henry’s study, Joey couldn’t help but look around. The study was large, well to an extent as most of the space was filled with bookcases on one side filled to the brim with books. On the opposite side of the room was a desk covered in papers, a desk lamp, and a picture frame. In the corner where Henry’s desk sat was a table that held a record player with a shelf beside it that was filled with records.

Henry sat Joey down on his desk, waiting for Bendy to shut the door as Henry sat. Joey looked around the desk surface as he tried to actively ignore Bendy walking over, noticing drawings of Bendy, Boris and Alice and felt a pain where his gut would have been. He still remembered the day Henry left, and apparently it was a day that pained both of them.

“What’s that for?” Bendy asked as he walked over, spotting the audio log on Henry’s desk.

Joey gulped. “This is where I’m gonna be found out.” He thought, and looked at Henry, hoping he kept his word.

“An officer found it at Joey’s office in the studio. One that I must have missed without realizing. Gave it to me in case something important was on it.” Henry shrugged, lying easily, making Joey wonder just how good at hiding things he really was.

“Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?” Bendy asked, a bit confused.

“Thank you Henry.”Joey said, sighing in relief. Finally he could relax.

“Yeah, I’ll keep you updated as it goes.” Henry answered Bendy’s question, ignoring Joey at the moment.

“Nothing to update much on unless this ends up in the newspaper.” Joey began to mumble, then felt a tinge of fear, and the thought stopped as soon as it came.

Bendy sighed, turning towards the door. “Well, if that’s it, I’m gonna go read Luna a bedtime story. I promised her I would after her bath.” He said, as Henry nodded.

It got quiet after Bendy had left, neither knowing what to say at the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter as I did editing and typing. Chapter three will probably be the longest one that I've typed so far, but I had a bit of fun with it. Thanks!
> 
> -Benzedrine


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Strap yourself's in everyone! This is a long one. Prepare to see some of Joey's suffering!
> 
> -Zoey

“Henry… Promise me the court won’t make a newspaper about this.” Joey pleaded, as Henry glanced down at him.

Henry sighed, looking up at the ceiling, which seemed to show a slight mapping of the constellations on his ceiling. “I’ve asked them to keep whatever happens private, Joey. I don’t need this on me and my family after everything.” He said, frowning.

Joey seemed to quiet down after that, but spoke up again a bit timidly.

“... How… Are the other employees? … I heard some were in hospitals, others with their family.” 

“They're doing fine. Getting used to being out of the studio, but they're doing better.” Henry told him, glancing back down. 

“I’m.. Sorry..”

“Why would you do it?” Henry asked him with a frown.

“I only did it because Rhonda planted the idea into my head.” Joey mumbled, glancing away from Henry.

“Rhonda?” Henry asked, confused.

“You won’t believe me if I told you. No one would. And before you bring up how the ink machine is something no one can believe yet happen, this is 100 times the unbelievable-ness.” Joey told Henry, glaring at him.

Henry rose a brow. “Unbelievable-ness?” He asked at the obvious made up word.

“I’m not a dictionary, Henry.” Joey grumbled, internally rolling his eyes.

Henry smiled. “Maybe you could?”

Joey paused, then glanced at Henry, then at the cold looking bookshelf that looked like one book about the size of a dictionary could just squeeze in tightly. “Don’t you flipping dare.”

Henry shrugged. “Just a suggestion.”

Joey sighed. “I’m gonna have a hard time, aren’t I?”

Henry nodded, smirking slightly. “For a while.”

Joey let out an annoyed sigh hearing that. “I wonder how life in prison would’ve been possibly better than this.”

Henry chuckled, rolling his eyes. “Now you’ll never know.”

Joey sighed and looked out the nearby window. “It’s really late…”

Henry sighed, glancing at the hanging clock on his wall near the door. “ I know.” He said, as the clock read fifteen till twelve.

Joey looked at him. “You better get to bed.”

Henry nodded. “Where do you want me to set you for the night?”

Joey glanced around. “Well.. Do you have any beds that aren’t being slept in?” He asked.

Henry shrugged. “ I can look.”

“I’ll take the softest you have if you have any.” Joey said.

Henry nodded, and within a short time had found a bed for Joey to sleep in, though, he was a bit confused as to why he needed a bed, but he wasn’t going to argue with a human turned audio log. Henry retired to his and Linda’s room for the rest of the night, sleeping peacefully with his wife.

\-----

The next day came and Joey had awoken with a groan. He went to stretch, but the previous days memories filled him and sighed. He wished for the ability to move his buttons to mimic the motion of kicking his feet back and forth while he waited for Henry to come and get him.

Henry walked into the room, sipping on a cup of coffee.

Joey looked at him. “Morning Henry.” He greeted, sighing after.

“Morning Joey.” Henry said, returning the greeting, as he walked over.

“Is everything okay?” Joey asked.

“Yeah, everyone is downstairs eating breakfast.” Henry told him, picking him up.

“Good.” Joey sighed. He normally, or well, before he’d normally have a lot to talk about, but with his current state he couldn’t think of anything to say.

Henry left the room with him, heading in the direction towards his study. “I’m going to be in my study for a bit to work on some things, but I’m bringing you with me so no one spots you anywhere other than my study.” He informed Joey, as he felt a small amount of his confusion.

“Is this going to be like the days when you had to teach me math four grades ahead of you just so I had a chance at passing?” He asked, joking slightly.

Henry chuckled, and went along with the joke. “More than likely.”

Joey chuckled as well. “Oh those good old days. Back before the company started, but after.. You left me all alone..”

Henry sighed softly. “I wanted something more than just drawing cartoons for a living. I wanted an actual family.”

“A family I wasn’t a part of.” Joey grumbled under his breath.

Henry glanced at him. “You chose to continue to run the studio instead of visiting.” 

“I ran a tight ship… I didn’t realize how badly I needed you till you were gone, both as an employee and as a friend.” Joey explained.

Henry smiled slightly. “You know, I did want you to contact me after I left to get together.”

Joey glanced up at him, surprised. “Really?”

Henry nodded, sighing. “Never got a letter after that.”

Joey looked down slightly, full of regret. Henry glanced at the papers on his desk as he read over them.

“So… What’s your job now? Desk job? Still doing animation?” Joey asked.

“Yeah, I’m still doing animations.. I guess I couldn’t completely walk away from animations.” Henry said, smiling.

Joey would have smiled brightly if he could. “Good. Glad to see you're still doing what you love… Can I see?” 

Henry chuckled, pulling out a large leather back folder from his desk drawer, worn from the years of use, full of his drawings for the animation he was working on, with some from previous years of self drawing with no studios taking him in. Joey had looked at the folder as Henry opened it, showing different animation comics from over the years.

“You’ve gotten so much better at drawing.” He said and smiled, or would have if he could.

“I’ve learned more as I got older. I guess I needed to leave to realize that.”

Joey felt bad, He began to wonder how he could make it up to Henry, then he remembered that he was now a tool for Henry, albeit without a choice, but he could be anything that Henry wants. He, in some strange way, was already making it up to him…

And he would continue to for months. He was mostly an audio log, but occasionally he would be turned into something Henry needed at the moment, at least once a week, or something to mess with Joey. He grew to accept this, in a way, it did bring him close to Henry, but there was a time, in those months, that he had said something that he had soon regretted after. However, he didn’t get away scot free, but he learned to keep certain opinions to himself.

\------

It was within the second month of his self made prison as an audio log, and Joey had gotten used to the coming and goings of everyone in the household. Linda would leave for certain hours of the day, sometimes taking Luna with her, Bendy would stay in his room after the girl had left, coming down for food when he chose, Audrey would already be gone for her early classes on her campus. From what he’s heard, Audrey was really smart and worked as an intern for some company that was well within the career path that she wants.

As far as he’s concerned, none of that actually mattered to him, but it did to Henry. Joey would sit through _hours_ of listening to Henry droning on and on about his family. What about him? Wasn’t _he_ family too?

He thought that after so much lost time with Henry, that the other would be more… Open to what he had to say. Well, Joey supposes that even with that large gap of time lost, that his old friend really isn’t keen on things being said against his loved ones all too much. He should have seen it coming.

It was a Saturday morning, Joey was sitting on the island counter where Henry had sat him, as said man was working on the dishes, when Linda had walked in quickly, wearing what looked to be office clothes for a meeting.

“Henry, I have to leave. The whole office got called in for an emergency meeting, and even though my department isn’t even supposed to be, we still have to go.” Linda spoke hurriedly, pecking his lips quickly when he turned towards her, and moved towards the fruit basket, snatching up an apple as Henry turned around to walk after her.

“I thought they gave your department the weekends off?” Henry asked, slightly confused, wiping his hands off with a towel.

“Well, the CEO will be there to talk about the recent increase of the product’s sales we had released last winter, and I suppose he’s planning on releasing something new already.” Linda sighed tiredly, worn out from having to rush this morning.

“Wait.. So soon? Isn’t it a bit too early to come up with a new product already? Isn’t he worried that the public won’t latch onto it so soon?” Henry asked, raising a brow slightly, as he pulled her towards him.

“I know, I know, but if I don’t it might risk my job.” Linda pleaded silently, as Henry nodded.

“Alright, just be careful, okay?” Henry asked her, pecking her cheeks lightly, as Linda smiled, nodding.

“Always am, love,” She told him as she pecked his lips, pulling away from him as he let her go slowly, “I’ll be back home before dinner.” She informed him, as she left the kitchen.

Linda gave her farewells to the girls and Bendy, all of whom had been in the sitting room, either listening to the radio and dancing, or studying for a midterm final, making her way out the door. Henry returned to the kitchen, getting back to the dishes.

“She actually works?” Joey asked, raising a metaphorical brow.

Henry rolled his eyes. “Yes, she does.” He says, scrubbing at a pan.

“Huh… So she wasn’t a completely awful choice.” Joey mumbled, unaware that it was louder than he thought.

Henry stopped, turning to glare at him. “What?” He asked sharply and harshly.

“I’m just surprised your relationship actually managed to go on this long. You know school romance relationships hardly work out, and you could have done much better.” Joey said, blindly going into a rant.

Henry glared at him. “I ‘Could have done better’? Listen, I’m not sure what you think you're saying, but I have a family with her and I love her. You may have never found someone to love through all your ‘hard work’, but I did.” He hissed, keeping quiet so the kids didn’t hear.

“I did find someone. Someone that we both know is better than any woman out there, including Linda.” Joey spat with a growl.

“I don’t know what to say to you.” Henry spat, as he narrowed his eyes, and turned back to the sink, muting Joey silently, without the other’s knowledge.

“Granted there’s not a- Hey! Did you mute me? Your eyes aren’t giving any reaction to what I have to say!” Joey shouted at Henry, but was shouted to himself the entire time.

Henry was frowning as he worked on the dishes, cleaning the Utensils. All the while, the words that Joey had said were running through his head.

“Great! I was so close to getting something off my chest and you mute me to rant to myself!”

Henry glared down at the spoon in his hand, tossing it into the other sink, to rinse it after.

“Will you- Ahh!” Joey shouted as the bright light, that was only visible to Henry and him, came. He would have shook his head, as the light disappeared, he looked at his body as much as he could with the vision he had at the moment.

Henry glanced up, the light from the change shocking him, but he paid no mind to it as he turned around, making sure that he got all the dishes, when he saw a spoon on the counter, unaware that the spoon was exactly where Joey was at.

“Huh, must have missed one.” He muttered, grabbing the spoon.

“Oh- Okay, Henry- Henry I’ll shut up, don’t do this! Stop trying to scare me!”He shouted, frightened. Luckily there was a slight crash from the sitting room that worked in his favor.

“Girls what was that?” Henry called, placing him down and leaving the kitchen.

Joey sighed in relief as Henry left. “All I need to do now is wait for Henry to decide to change me back. He was just scaring me there, after all. There’s no way he’d actually treat me like a spoon..”

Henry spotted a vase that had been knocked over and saw Luna wringing her hands nervously and guiltily. He looked around more, and noticed a ball that sat near the fireplace that hadn’t been there before.

It was hours later, Linda coming home as Henry was working on dinner, as she set the table. Soon the family sat down to have dinner, as Joey paid more attention during this meal than the night before. He was honestly starting to get worried. 

“Did Henry really forget about me?” He asked himself.

Linda came in soon after, carrying plates from dinner and put them away in the dishwasher, waiting to start it after dessert as she pulled down bowls from a cupboard.

“What, did she go kitchen item shopping and realize she bought too much to fit?” He asked himself, confused as to what she was doing.

She set them on the counter and grabbed some spoons and a tub of Ice cream from the freezer, turning and spotted Joey.

“Henry must have set this one out.” She sighed, chuckling as she grabbed him.

Joey would have paled then struggled to get away from her, if he had the choice of either.

“No! Please no- Henry, stop this! This is too far, don’t this happen!”He shouted, hoping Henry had un-muted him.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t, having forgotten as he listened to Luna’s ‘Epic Tale of Conquering the Jungle Gym’ at recess the day before.

He braced himself for the cold impact of coldness once he realized Henry wasn’t coming to save him. He didn’t feel it, but could hear Ice Cream falling into bowls as Linda separated them. He sighed in relief, believing he was safe finally.

“Linda was just going to put me in the drawer..” He said to himself.

Linda placed him in a bowl the cold from the frozen treat chilling him slightly.

Joey yelped and shivered at the ‘brain freeze’ in his head. His vision was slightly blocked by chocolate brown frozen cream, only he realized just how much worse the situation was, wishing he was just used to get the ice cream out instead.

Linda took the bowls into the Dining Room, placing them in front of each person, making sure they all got one. 

Joey did his best to focus his mind on anything besides what his current purpose was as he was grabbed and driven deeper into the cold frozen cream mountain, before being pulled away.

“Please don’t be so bad…” He thought, bracing once more for impact’.

Henry took a bite of the ice cream Linda had brought out, chuckling as Bendy and Luna started to tease one another. As Luna teased Bendy about Jasmine, a girl that the Ink Demon had come across a few weeks after they had left the studio and would talk for hours with him in his room, and wondering when the two would end up like “Mommy and Daddy”.

While it wasn’t a scream, the shout Joey made to himself could have been mistaken for one. It was worse than he thought, it felt like he himself was being used in ways no other person wanted to experience. It was wet and dark, and just felt wrong.

He was out in a few seconds, maybe only two, but it was enough to scar him, and he feared how many times he would have to go through it. He was secretly glad it was Henry, mostly because it would add another layer to that feeling of wrongness if he was given to one of the others, but he was already begging to just disappear as he was driven back into the ice cream for another bite full.

Henry rolled his eyes playfully, as Bendy tried to make a jab at him, but took no offense to it.

Joey went on silently through his torture, wishing the frozen treat wasn't taking its time to melt. After what felt like decades though, it was over.

Henry placed the dishes he brought in above the dishwasher, setting them inside as he started to get the other dishes from dinner.

Joey almost sobbed as he was placed inside, wishing Henry would just end it. He learnt his lesson, don't talk about Linda badly in Henry's hearing range.

Henry shut the dishwasher door, starting it.

Joey let out a few yelps as he was assaulted by hot and soapy water, no longer having the mental energy to try and scream or shout. He wanted to cry as something he didn't realize he had until now came to light. Pain. Despite no longer having nerves, he could feel pain which, due to his metal body, made this the worst type of heat-based pain he thought could be possible.

"Hey Dad, where did that audio log you were looking into go? Last I saw it, you were walking in here after lunch." Audrey asked as she finished wiping off the table.

Henry paused in what he was doing, sweeping up the dining room with a broom, and quickly made his way back to the kitchen, as he remembered seeing a flash of light.

Joey didn't seem to be around where he saw the flash of light. He began to wonder where he could be as the dishwasher let out a ding, letting him know it was done.

Henry sighed, walking over, and opened it, silently unmuting Joey, as he started to put dishes away.

"I'M SORRY HENRY, I'M SO SORRY!" Joey shouted when he felt Henry grab him. While he wasn't destroyed, he had been broken, and wishing he could shake in fear of what else could happen to him with his new fate the Court had chosen for him.

Henry's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "What happened?"

"Y-you.. used me- I-i…" Joey stammered, mentally shaming himself for acting the way he was, but knew it was justified. No one needs to go through that.

Henry frowned, a bit confused and concerned.

"Wait, what?" He asked him.

Joey didn't respond. _It's like Henry's trying to trick me into thinking it never happened,_ Joey thought to himself, unaware that Henry was confused as to just what Joey had been through. After all, he never realized that he had turned Joey into a _spoon._

"Just…. Turn me back, please…" He said after about thirty seconds of silence.

Henry nodded, and turned him back into an audio log silently.

"Thank you." Joey said and fell silent, looking to the side, not exactly in a talkative mood after what had happened. 

He didn't speak the rest of that day, just wanting to forget what happened. Joey didn't realize that something that traumatizing could scar someone for a while.


	5. Chapter 4

In a conference room in a college campus, sat Henry, slightly paying attention as he took subtle notes as he added in some key points during the meeting. All the while Joey sat in Henry’s pocket, bored out of his mind as he listened to them drone on and on as a pocket watch. He may have wanted to help Henry, but he didn’t mean to say that meetings like these were what he wanted to suffer through. That second month of being what the Court had spelled him to become was.. A very valuable lesson that he had learnt the hard way. He hardly spoke to Henry about his wife, but he does like hearing about Henry’s kids, since he never actually had any of his own.

Joey felt himself being pulled out of Henry’s pocket carefully, and winced at the sudden light. He glanced up at Henry as the man checked the time. “How long is this school Council.. Art department.. Whatever this thing is meeting, going to take?” He asked, sighing.

Henry glanced around, making sure that no one was paying attention, seeing that no one was and chuckled quietly.

“Ten more minutes, Joey.” He told the pocket watch, smiling faintly.

Joey grumbled slightly. “I can almost feel every second go by, the exact moment it does. 10 minutes will be torturous centuries for me, maybe even longer!” He stated firmly, wanting to get his point across.

Henry chuckled again, rolling his eyes. “Think of it like this: In ten minutes, I’ll walk out and I’ll head to that garden you like so much at the park.” He bargained, glancing up at the speaker.

Joey sighed. “Fine..” He agreed, and proceeded to stay quiet for the next ten minutes. While there wasn’t much of a willing choice of what he could do there, the feeling and sight of the place was enough to bring him peace and brightness to his day.

Henry smiled with a slight chuckle.

Soon the minutes ticked by and Joey was honestly surprised when Henry started moving again, having forced himself not to think of anything in a vain attempt to be patient. Henry made his way to the exit, saying his goodbyes to his colleagues who had attended the meeting.

Joey sighed slightly. “Thank goodness, glad that’s over.” He said in relief. He always was either too stressed to care or always spiced up meetings, so sitting through a normal one made him feel like he was in school again.

Henry chuckled, looking over the garden, watching as Hummingbirds buzzed around, drinking nectar, and bees taking pollon.

Joey looked around the garden as well. It was so much like a painting, it was always like he was stepping into living art. He mentally flinched as one of the bees landed on his ‘face’, but soon calmed down and let it _bee_ …. He needed to tell that pun to Henry later.

Henry smiled at the scenery. “I can understand why you enjoy this garden so much.”

He chuckled slightly as the bee flew off his ‘face’. “ Yeah.. I always loved going here when I was younger… Didn’t have much time after I started the studio to come here.”

Henry glanced down at Joey. “I’ll have to stop by on the weekends.” 

Joey chuckled, beginning to feel the cold on his face. He noticed it was a drop of water and that there were clouds overhead, showing signs of a storm. “We should probably head back.”

Henry nodded, glancing up at the sky. “Yeah, I’m sure the girls are wondering where I am.” He said.

“Weren’t you supposed to get some food while out too?” Joey asked, mentally raising a brow as the birds blew back to their nest.

Henry sighed, as the little errand had slipped his mind. “I completely forgot.”

While he was at the food market getting what he needed, he bumped into a woman who was dressed in robes, and, oddly enough, had pink hair and orange eyes. 

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She said, apologetically.

“No, it was my fault, Ma’am.” Henry said calmly.

She smiled slightly. “You're a good man, Mr. Stein.”

Henry blinked, a bit confused. “I’m sorry but… How do you know my name?”

She seemed to pale slightly before smiling and saying, “ You're the man that freed all those trapped souls from the studio, who wouldn’t know your name?”

Henry smiled slightly. “Well, I didn’t do this for the publicity.”

She smiled as well. “That’s what I admire about you… Well I should probably get going.” She said, and began to leave.

Henry got back to shopping as Joey glanced at where the woman was.

“There’s something about her…”

Henry glanced down at Joey. “Yeah, how so?”

“I don’t know what exactly, but.. She.. Reminds me of Rhonda…” He said, glancing to the side.

Henry rose a brow. “Rhonda?” He asked, remembering the name that Joey had mentioned before, but had never gone into detail so to who this Rhonda was. Maybe he’d go into a bit of detail now?

“.. Never mind..” Joey sighed, dropping the conversation.

Maybe not, Henry thought, as he eyed his friend, worried about what he might be thinking about.

Joey glanced at where the woman had been, again, getting a bad feeling in his ‘chest’. “Let's…. Finish shopping and head home.”

Henry nodded. “Alright.”

It was raining quite a bit by the time they got home, and Henry ran the rest of the way, spotting his block, and made his way inside quickly.

The Boris clone on the couch looked over and waved.

Henry waved back, despite his hands being full of groceries, and set them on the table.

“What’s Buddy doing here?” Joey asked, more to himself than anything. Linda came into the room and kissed Henry.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I invited the Leweks over for dinner tonight.” She told her husband, smiling.

Henry smiled back. “I don’t mind at all.” He chuckled, returning the kiss.

 _‘Oh sure, kiss while I’m right here. Nice’,_ Joey thought, still envious even after all this time. 

Linda smiled and went back into the kitchen, as Buddy glanced at his two notebooks; One to communicate and the other for drawing.

Henry walked over, smiling at Buddy.

“How are you holding up?” He asked curiously.

Buddy smiled slightly before grabbing his communication notebook, writing at a semi-fast rate that some authors may have written in before showing the written response to Henry.

“I’m doing great! I’m back with my family, finally getting back to school, and I’ve been hanging out with Dot and Jacob again! Only problem is with Borkis, but with the medications I’ve been getting, he hasn’t been much of a problem.” Buddy wrote happily, his ears drooping slightly as he read over the Borkis part.

“ Who, or what, is Borkis?” Joey asked no one in particular.

Henry smiled. “That’s good. I’m glad you’re doing better, Buddy.”

Buddy smiled brightly at him. Joey looked at the two, and remembered how he wanted to try and mold Buddy into a version of Henry that would stay by his side. He felt guilty, guilty of that and how he threw that plan aside and let Buddy die all those years ago and felt pleased when he became the first perfect cartoon.

Henry and Buddy had gone back and forth with their conversation until Linda had gotten their attention for dinner.

Joey glanced over as they began to head on for dinner, and sighed, before letting out a slight shout as he fell onto the floor when Luna bumped into the coffee table, knocking him off, while racing Bendy to the kitchen.

Henry picked him up from the floor, smiling apologetically, as he noticed a slight thump from the kitchen. “Sorry.”

Joey sighed. “It’s okay… Wish I had less pain though.” He said, wishing he could rub where it hurt. How a watch or an audio log or a pencil could feel pain was beyond him.

“Want me to take away your pain?” Henry asked him.

“Please..” He pleaded softly, as he felt his head, so to speak, start to ache.

Henry nodded as he thought about taking Joey’s pain away.

Joey sighed in relief as the pain disappeared. Henry having control of my senses isn’t always a bad thing, Joey thought to himself. It usually made things easier so he didn’t have to worry about much as he was forced to endure the spell for however long the Court chose.

Henry smiled, taking Joey up to his study so he wouldn’t get knocked over accidentally again.

“Guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” Joey asked, a bit disappointed.

Henry chuckled, nodding as he walked. “I’ll be up early tomorrow so I can work on some drawings.”

“Can I at least go back to the audio log form?” Joey asked before Henry left.

“Sure” Henry said, and in a flash of light an audio log was where the watch was.

“Thank you, Henry. Have a good night.” Joey said with an internal smile.

“You too, Joey.” Henry chuckled, leaving with a smile.

During the dinner, Irena kept thanking Henry again and again for saving her son. Buddy was slightly embarrassed as he watched his mom embarrass herself, and she didn't seem to care, but didn’t make a scene. He just let Audrey pat him on the back for some form of closure.

Henry would constantly reassure Irena that he had no problem with what he had done.

Soon dinner was done and Linda was talking with Henry and Irena while doing dishes. Luna had ‘gone to bed’, well actually she snuck out to talk with the older siblings, as Audrey and Bendy were talking outside the room, and Buddy had decided to look around.

Bendy would glance at Buddy every so often as he listened to Luna and Audrey speak.

“Hey, Buddy, find anything interesting?” He asked, wanting to strike up a conversation with the wolf, since he hadn’t spoken with him since they left the studio.

Bendy had kept one secret from his father, as he was able to understand some of the ink creatures inside the studio, but he figured he would share with his little sisters instead.

~*~Depends on what you mean. If it’s knowledge, I can tell about all the stuff in math I found out.~*~ Buddy thought in a joking manner as he glanced over.

Bendy chuckled, glancing at the girls, who seemed to be shocked.

“Find any new hobbies since you left the studio?” The Ink Demon asked curiously.

~*~Nothing much, mostly just messing around the town with the others. If that counts.~*~ Buddy thought and chuckled as well.

“What’s going on?” Luna asked as she looked at her big brother, while Audrey seemed confused, but went along with whatever Bendy was pulling to joke with Luna.

Bendy looked down at Luna, then glanced at Audrey. “ Well, I never told Pops this, but I was able to understand the ink creatures who couldn’t audibly speak like us. I’m having a conversation with Buddy here.” He explained, glancing back at Buddy. “How’s it looking there? Everyone doing alright?”

Buddy shrugged slightly. “Everything’s fine, life’s good. Dot’s fine, just mentally, and a hair bit physically, scared. Jacob, could be doing better physically, has an ink arm and lost his left eye that he had to hide for some years, but he’s still the same Jacob.”

“So crazy.. But cool!” Luna said excitedly.

Bendy chuckled at his sister’s excitement, then nodded slightly at what Buddy had said.

“I wish them well then. Hopefully things will be better in the future.” He told the wolf.

“I’ll be sure to tell.. Or write to them, of what you had said.” Buddy thought to him jokingly, as he got back to looking around the house.

“Can ya teach me how to read minds?!” Luna asked, hopping slightly in joy.

Bendy’s smile widened slightly. “Hmm, if you bring up that Math grade, I just might consider it.”

Luna saluted him with a, “Sir, yes sir!”, then raced to her room to study.

Audrey looked at him and shook her head slightly. “You know she won’t stop bugging you after she gets that grade up, right?” She asked, raising a brow.

Bendy shrugged slightly. “Helps Pops and Linda, right?”

Audrey smiled slightly before there was a crash and, what sounded like, a muffled shout coming from the other room.

Bendy ran into the room where the muffled shout came from, wanting to make sure that no one was hurt.

When they raced into the room, they saw Buddy struggling with a hand over his mouth. Another was holding a syringe that was draining black and yellow-white ink from his body. The devil-looking person didn’t notice them coming in.

Bendy growled, his fingers sharpening to claws, forgetting for a moment that Audrey was beside him.

Audrey went to race and attack the red haired girl, but got herself cut from running so close to Bendy’s sharp claws by mistake, drawing blood. She covered the wound and hissed, the yellow and red eyes of the demon-creature now looking at them from the noise.

Bendy attacked the creature as he hollered at Audrey,

“Get Pops and stay with Linda and Luna!”

Audrey nodded with a determined look. “I will, just be careful!” She then raced to the kitchen to get her father, grabbing Luna along the way.

The girl used her dragon-like wings to push herself away from Bendy, letting go of Buddy and a scale with a small amount of blood coming off of it in the process. “Leave me alone, Ink Demon, you have no idea of my power.” She hissed angrily.

“What are you doing to Buddy then, red bat?” He growled, circling her as he got closer to Buddy.

She growled at the name that the Ink Demon had given her. “I am no bat, Ink Demon. I know more about the ink than you ever will.” She flew above the floor slightly, a red-orange flame appearing in her hand as her eyes glowed as well.

Bendy glared at her, not terrified of her despite her small show of power. “Yeah, Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t care. Just get out of my Pops’ house before I make you.” He ordered, glancing back at Buddy to make sure he was alright.

Buddy held his head in his hands, shaking in fear. “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it again.” The creature hissed, shooting the fiery-red ball of pure magic at the Ink Demon.

Bendy dodged, pulling Buddy with him. He shoved Buddy towards the door, as he turned towards the creature, growling.

“Get out of here Buddy.” He snarled, not looking over his shoulder as he gave the order, but to keep an eye on the creature in case she tried anything.

Buddy ran out of the room just as Henry ran in. At the sight of the man, she looked at Bendy with narrowed eyes and hissed, 

“This is far from over, Ink Demon.” 

She disappeared into thin air, as Bendy growled at where the creature was, and calmed down, glancing at his Pops. He knew the man wouldn’t want the girls to see him like that, and he didn’t want them to see how much of a monster he could become when provoked.

“What happened?” Henry asked, confused and concerned, “Audrey and Buddy came running downstairs, and both seemed shaken up.”

Bendy sighed, calmly answering him as his claws returned to normal fingers,

“Audrey and I heard some noises coming from this room, and came running in to see Buddy cornered and some female creature that had him cornered, trying to do something to the poor wolf. I… May have accidentally knicked Audrey with my claws when they formed, and had her go downstairs to get you.”

Henry nodded slightly, still a bit confused but was glad that Bendy had been here to, at least, do something.

“Well, they’re both downstairs, safe.” He sighed.

Henry saw the scale covered in a small amount of blood on the blue carpet of the floor, and picked it up, raising a brow,

“Looks like that creature left a little something behind.” He said, as Bendy hissed slightly.

Linda came in, looking at the boys in concern. “Henry, Dear, is everything alright? I just finished wrapping Audrey’s arm with a bandage. What happened?” She asked in worry.

Henry nodded as he and Bandy explained what happened, and what they had found.

Linda looked at the scale curiously. “Last time I talked with Lacie, she mentioned she and Bertrum were currently working on a machine that could measure the power of something. It might be a longshot, but you might want to bring that scale to them and see just how powerful this thing is… And how much of a threat she could be.” She suggested to her husband and Bendy.

Henry nodded, pecking her cheek. “Bendy and I will be back soon.” He told her, eager to find out how powerful this thing is and find out how to stop it before it does anything dangerous.

“Can’t you wait till tomorrow, Dear? It’s getting late and I’d rather you go when, if something happens, there’s a better chance of others being there to help you.” Linda suggested to him, stroking his arm as she did.

Henry nodded, sighing slightly. “Alright, I’ll wait till tomorrow.” He told her, smiling softly.


	6. Chapter 5

It was early afternoon when Henry and Bendy left to see Lacie and Bertrum and Joey wasn’t enjoying what form he had to take at the moment.

He grunted slightly in slight fear and uncomfortableness as his form was a squishy stress ball while his whole body was pressed against itself. “Are we almost… Wherever we’re going, Henry? Even without the pain, being Bendy’s stress ball isn’t as ideal as you think.”

Henry nodded to himself to answer Joey’s question, looking at Lacie and Bertrum’s place.

Lacie could faintly be seen putting some cans of oil away in a cabinet through a window of the house that was only slightly fancier then Henry’s . “Good, I know I’m supposed to feel at least a bit uneasy with my punishment, but come on...”

Henry chuckled, shaking his head as though he thought of a good joke, and glanced at Bendy. “You gonna take it easy on the stress ball?”

Bendy sighed, and slowly released the ball. “You’d be stressed too if you were going to someone’s home that you had chased in the studio so many times.”

“And you’d be stressed if your whole body was crushed against itself!” Joey mumbled under his breath, but was grateful that he stopped. “Why are we here anyway?”

“Well, I figured you would want to know what was made from the scale.” Henry shrugged, while also answering Joey’s question indirectly.

Bendy huffed, saying nothing.

“Scale?” Joey asked in confusion as he was taken from the Ink Demon, to his relief.

Lacie finished filling the cabinet when she heard a knock at the door. She went over to it and opened it, seeing Henry and Bendy on her porch.

Henry smiled as he placed Joey in his pocket, changing him to a pocket watch while everyone was distracted by saying their greetings.

Joey sighed in relief, he never thought, in 24 hours after he was complaining about it, he would be relieved to be in this form. “So, what brings you two here today?” Lacie asked about a minute into the conversation.

Henry chuckled slightly, pulling the scale out from his other pocket to show her.

“We ran into some trouble last night- Well, I should say Bendy did, and this was left after the creature disappeared.” Henry explained.

“Creature?” Joey and Lacie asked, almost at the same time. “What type of creature, and what are you planning?” Lacie added to her previous question.

Bendy sighed. “It was female, red with dragon wings and a pair of horns. Linda suggested that Henry should bring the scale to you and Bertrum to see how powerful the creature was.” 

Joey would have paled if he was human, or wasn’t already a pale shade of silver from his pocket watch form. A mix of dread, fear, a bit of confusion, and a few others filled him, to the point that Henry could feel his growing unease and panic. ‘No.. There’s no way it’s her..’, He thought.

“Well, I suppose it’s worth a shot. I’ll take you to where Bertrum and the machine you’ll need will be.” She told him.

Henry thanked her, as he glanced down at his pocket where Joey sat, curious as to what was going on with him.

Lacie led them to a workshop area of the house, small machines dotted here and there in the home, an occasionally large one on the floor too. “Bertrum, we have guests.” She called to the robot a bit away from them.

Bertrum glanced over at them, pausing what he was doing to say,

“Just a moment.”

She smiled slightly at him. “ Alright dear.” 

She glanced at Henry and Bendy slightly, as if silently apologizing.

Joey was silent as he kept trying to reassure himself it wasn’t her.

Bertrum finished up what he was doing, turning to the others.

“Alright, what is it, Dearest?”

Lacie glanced at the others slightly, then at Bertrum. “Some sort of creature attacked them last night, and they wanted to use our power-sensing Machine to learn more about it.” She explained.

Bertrum glanced at Henry. “Do you have anything that I can scan?”

Henry nodded, pulling out the scale.

“This was left after the creature had disappeared.”

Joey was filled with fear, and was hoping that the test wouldn’t show anything and that it wasn’t who he thought it was.

Bertrum eyed the scale, and held out his hand, as Henry placed the scale in it. He turned towards the machine and turned it on.

Lacie closed the machine once the scale was in. The machine began to scan the scale and it seemed to go well for a minute. Suddenly the machine began to shake and heat up.

Bertrum watched in shock as it never happened before.

“What’s going on?” Bendy asked, confused as to what’s going on.

“We need to turn it off or it’s gonna blow!” Lacie cried and raced over to the machine.

Joey gulped at that, fearing he knew what that meant.

Bertum helped Lacie, hoping they would stop it in time, as the gears smoked. Luckily the machine turned off right before anything could explode, and a long white piece of paper came out from a small lip in the side of the machine. 

“Take the scale out.” Lacie sighed.

Henry did as told, as Bertrum looked over the data.

Lacie looked over the massive power readings from the scale that had almost destroyed Bertrum’s machine.

“You’re gonna have to hope that the scale represents her whole power and not just a small part of it, Henry. Especially with these readings.” Lacie spoke, shock and awe in her voice.

“That powerful?” Henry asked, shocked, having not expected that.

“There are so many spikes in this one reading that it would be laughable to a lesser creature.” Bertrum informed, shaking his head.

“Rhonda…” Joey said, unable to deny it after what the lost one and the Bendy robot said.

Henry sighed. “We don’t exactly know what it is.”

“Maybe you should report it to the Police. If that thing has plans that are even slightly close to what Joey had for us, it could be a major threat.” Lacie informed Henry, as she handed Bendy the results.

Bendy, unsure how to read it, handed it to Henry.

The smallest waves were about half the page, and the largest spike had almost passed the edge of the page.

Henry whistled in shock. “That’s… Powerful.” 

‘Of course she is…’, Joey thought to himself.

“You should probably head home, Linda’s probably worried sick after last night.” Lacie recommended.

Henry nodded. “We will, have a good day.” He told the couple, who nodded as well.

“You too.” Bertrum said as well.

Henry left with a wave as Bendy followed after him.

Joey stayed silent all the way back to Henry’s house, fear washing over him like a black, silky curtain. Not just because of Rhonda herself, but because of what Henry might do to him when he heard about her.

Henry closed the door to his study and looked at Joey. “Alright, what’s wrong?” Henry asked him.

“I… Know who the creature is…” Joey said, after a few moments of hesitation.

Henry rose a brow. “Well.. Who is it?” He asked.

“Rhonda… The true Mastermind behind the Ink Machine.”

“You’ve mentioned that name before. Who is she?” He asked.

“A Keanrot. A demon-like looking creature from Greek Mythology, with powers beyond human imagination. She came to me after Ink Bendy’s failed creation, and offered me a deal. She would help with the machine and make it to where everything would become perfect…”

Henry eyed him silently.

“Why would you agree to whatever she had promised?” He asked finally.

“She told me that everyone would be happy with it in the end. And for a while, it worked. The results had gotten more perfect each time! But… Then she said that she needed to generate power to continue, and the only way for her to do that was to trap you in a time loop.” Joey explained, seeming happy at the beginning, but it was quickly squashed out to be replaced by guilt.

Henry frowned. “ I stopped the time loop. Does that mean she’s angry with what I’d done?”

Joey looked at him. “I guess so, I hadn’t seen her ever since you broke it. She was the one who gave me the book that had this curse in it..” He glanced down at his current prison.

Henry sighed, sitting in his chair, slumping down as he went over the news, covering his face with his hands. “This is crazy.”

Joey looked at him. “I’m worried. Now that I look back at the days we worked together, Rhonda always seemed to have a hatred towards humanity. Either because they forgot her kind so many centuries ago or something that she wouldn’t mention.”

Henry glanced at him. “Maybe this was her way of getting back at humanity.”

“You mean.. Turning everyone into ink creatures…?” Joey asked.

Henry nodded. “What better way to show her power than turn humans into toons?”

Joey would have shook his head in confusion if he could from Henry’s ‘explanation’. “That doesn’t make too much sense. Why make us partially immortal to either one day find a cure or find a way to enjoy our new lives? Why work with me to make more perfect forms instead of leaving us all to be blobs of ink and pain? Why not just steal the machine instead of even working with me? Why not just use the spell on me, on everyone, and throw them in a paper shredder or… something… Please forget that last part…” Joey said quickly.

While Henry had been kind to him as a captor, he knew Henry could do anything to him and he could do nothing to stop it.

Henry nodded slightly as he listened to Joey. “Your right, I hadn’t thought about it that way.”

Joey glanced to the side. “I guess we just need to wait to find out… And hope nothing bad happens before then.”

Henry nodded in agreement. “Alright.”

Joey looked at him. “I’m.. Sorry Henry… I really am.. I was so caught up in my own goals that I didn’t see anyone else besides disposable items…” He chuckled, “This punishment really does fit me, doesn’t it?”

Henry smiled bitterly, after everything. “Took you long enough, Old Friend.”

Joey chuckled slightly. “I guess it did.”


	7. Chapter 6

A few days had passed with little to no events happening to the family. There hadn’t been any signs of the Keanrot appearing since that night, but Bendy had been keeping an eye out just in case. The family had stayed within the home, in any case, to make sure nothing happened to anyone. The only time they left was for school, work, or for groceries.

Henry was working on a drawing, with Luna doodling on his floor beside him, as he listened to Joey ramble on about some topic he had no idea about. Oddly enough, this was normal for him to have Luna drawing with him. They’ve done it ever since she could pick up a crayon. He had asked her when she was just four years old why she did, and her answer had surprised him and Linda. Then again, she was always Daddy’s little girl.

_“I want to be just like you when I get bigger!” She had said, smiling widely as she spoke with a lisp, showing two front teeth missing._

He would ask the same thing each year, getting the same answer, and finally stopped knowing she wouldn’t change a bit.

There was a knock on the front door downstairs, that had stopped Joey’s rant. “Were you expecting someone?” He asked.

Henry shook his head. “No.”

“Drawing not good?” Luna asked curiously as she looked up at her father from her spot on the floor.

Henry, forgetting a moment that Luna had been there, chuckled softly.

“Just forgot something is all, Luna.” He told her with a smile.

Luna smiled back as Audrey walked past. “I’ll get the door.”

Henry smiled at Audrey as he stood. “I’ll get it, you go back to helping your mother.” He chuckled.

Audrey smiled. “Alright Dad.” She said, and went back to the laundry room.

“Good kid.” Joey said, as he watched her pass him.

Henry nodded as he opened the door, curious as to who would be knocking on the door at this hour.

The neighbor girl, who lived a couple houses down and a friend of Bendy’s, Jasmine, smiled at him. She stood on their doorstep, rubbing her arm slightly. “Hello, Mr. Stein.” She greeted politely.

Henry smiled at the girl. “Hello to you too, Jasmine. Here to see Bendy I take it?” He asked, stepping to the side so she could come in.

Jasmine smiled as she came into the house. “Sorta… I was wondering if it would be okay for Bendy to come out with me. Maybe go to see a movie? There’s a new mystery one in Theaters.” She asked, looking around.

Henry chuckled as he shrugged slightly. “I don’t see why not. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind getting out of the house.” He agreed, as he called for Bendy.

“Yeah Pops?” Bendy asked, coming down the stairs from his room, as he spotted Jasmine. “Hi Jasmine.. What are you doing here?” The Ink Demon asked her curiously.

“I was hoping you could come to the movies with me. Maybe stop by the book store or something after?” She asked nervously, a slight blush growing feintly, only noticable if someone was looking hard enough.

“Teen love.” Joey grumbled, rolling his mental eyes at the conversation.

“S-sure! I mean, yeah, I don’t mind.” Bendy said, nodding, trying to seem casual with his response after his little cry of answer.

“Great! I-i already got one in mind.” She said, a finger curling a small strand of her hair slightly.

“And I’m going to be the silent third wheel to see how it plays out.” Joey said sarcastically.

Bendy perked up slightly. “Really? What did you have in mind?” He asked.

“It’s a new mystery movie, and it looked like something you might like. There’s apparently a few scenes with toons or something.” Jasmine mentioned, shrugging slightly.

Bendy’s smile grew wider, making him look sinister, but they knew he was happy. “Alright, let’s go.”

Jasmine smiled as she held his hand and began to leave with him.

“Finally I don’t have to listen to all that Lovey-Dovey crap.” Joey huffed.

Henry rolled his eyes playfully, shutting the door behind them gently.

“Daddy, when are they gonna get married?” Luna asked curiously.

Henry chuckled, glancing at his daughter. “Too soon to tell, Luna.” He told her, smiling.

Joey sighed slightly.

\---------------

It was a bit later when the two got to the theater. The medium sized building, nearly empty except for the employees and a stray couple here and there. The Lobby was well lit, with the smell of fresh popcorn and hot dogs in the air.

Bendy looked around curiously, having never been to one before with his family yet, and was slightly confused. Perhaps this place would have a similar layout as the studio had? It was hard to tell, and he was certain he didn’t want to get Jasmine and him kicked out for trespassing in areas that weren't open to the people.

Despite the building being nearly empty, it was still considered busy to those who hadn’t been to one. People that hadn’t been in one of the theater rooms were chatting excitedly or getting popcorn and snacks for the movie. A moment later, people leaving their preferred theater rooms had started to chat excitedly about the movie they had seen as they left the building.

“This movie is going to be great!” Jasmine said, smiling widely with a slight skip in her step.

Bendy nodded in agreement, his excitement showing the bare minimum on the surface as he looked around. “I can’t wait to see it.”

Jasmine chuckled as Bendy faintly overheard a conversation between two workers.

“I’m tellin’ ye, what I saw looked like some.. Tiger-Lion cub. An’ it was carryin’ a needle-like thing in that mouth of ‘is… Could’ve sworn ‘ere was sometin’ at the sides of it.” The Taller one said insistantly with what sounded to be a smooth, Brooklyn accent with a tinge of Irish in there. May have only been in America for a short time, perhaps a year and a half if the combination of the accents gave any thought.

“I tink y’er seein’ t’ings, pal.” The shorter one admonished, shaking his head, the Brooklyn accent far more distinguished than the other’s.

Bendy chuckled, done with eavesdropping for the night, as he and Jasmine headed into the theater.

A woman in a cloak stood some distance away, seeming to look their way as they walked in, sitting in the far back, but away from the door they walked in from. It was strange to some to see that she had pink hair and orange eyes, but they assumed that it was just rare genes passed down from so many generations. She smiled softly at them and went back to looking at the screen.

Bendy took a seat near the middle as he and Jasmine waited for the movie to start.

“Hey Bendy, has your parents considered putting you in public school?” Jasmine asked as she waited for the movie to start.

Bendy shook his head. “Not that I’ve been told. I don’t think they plan to, though.”

Jasmine sighed. “Too bad. You would have liked it there.”

Bendy chuckled. “Probably. I wouldn’t mind being out of the house for more than what I usually do.”

Jasmine smiled slightly before going quiet as the movie started.

Bendy enjoyed the movie with her as it played.

Halfway through the movie, for some strange reason, he felt a sharp pain in his arm during one of the more darker, physical parts of the movie, but brushed it off as a reaction to the music that came with the scene, paying his arm no mind.

As they continued to watch the movie, he felt a slight weight against his side, so he glanced over, seeing Jasmine against him. He blushed slightly, turning back to the movie.

When the movie had ended, Jasmine walked out of the theater, holding Bendy’s arm.

“That was so good, I can't believe the kidnapper was the Judge’s sister, though. Glad it turned out okay in the end.” She said with a slight laugh as she gave her opinion.

“Me too. It was a nice twist though.” Bendy added, chuckling.

Jasmine chuckled and glanced down slightly, then stopped. “Are there supposed to be black spots on the floor?”

Bendy frowned under the ink covering his eyes, as he noticed that the black spots looked exactly like ink... After having ignored what had happened in the theater, he completely forgot about his arm, but Jasmine had noticed far quicker than he did.

“Bendy.. Your arm.” Jasmine said when she glanced at him, noticing the black spots were dripping from his arm.

Bendy glanced at his arm, spotting a small gash in his arm as ink dripped from it.

“This must have happened during the movie.” He said, unsure of himself, glancing at Jasmine, who stared at him in shock and concern.

“We need to get you back home, it looks bad..” She insisted, silently pleading with him as she looked up at him.

Bendy nodded. “Alright.”

\----------

The two had arrived home later that night, Jasmine returning to hers, but insisted that Bendy let her know how his arm is the next day, to which he had agreed quietly, as she left, her worry sated slightly till morning. Now Linda was wrapping his arm with a wrap carefully, having previously cleaned it so it wouldn’t get infected.

Bendy sighed, watched her work. “I should have realized it sooner, instead of putting it to the side. I just thought it was a reaction to the movie.” He told her, berating himself for being so careless.

“What could have gotten you? It doesn’t make any sense.” She said, confused as she finished wrapping his arm, the bandage a slight tinge of grey as the inky blood surfaced once more from the irritation to the wound.

“I’m not sure.” Bendy sighed, unsure as Luna came in.

“Bendy are you okay?! Did a monster attack you?!” The little sister said with fear when she saw the bandages.

Bendy chuckled. “No, I don’t think so.” He said, smiling slightly wider in amusement.

“Oh, that makes sense. No monster would dare attack my brother!” She stated proudly, as Linda chuckled slightly.

Bendy chuckled, messing up Luna’s hair, who cried out in protest and shoved his arm off the top of her head with a playful glare.

Linda sighed and looked over, seeing Henry.

Henry sighed, as he walked over. “Why is this all happening now, after so long?”

“I’m not sure… Why did this all have to happen anyways?” Linda asked herself with a sigh.

Henry shrugged slightly, leaning his shoulder against a wall. “I haven’t got a clue.”

“We need to let the cops know. What if it’s that dragon girl?” Linda insisted, crossing her arms.

Henry sighed. “They wouldn’t believe it.” He told her.

Linda gave him a blank look. “After the case with Joey, what wouldn’t they believe?” She asked him blandly.

“True.” Henry agreed, sighing.

“I’ll go ahead and call the other ink creatures and make sure they’re okay.” Linda told him, and headed to the phone.

Henry nodded, leaving his wife alone for the moment, as Audrey sighed, looking over from her corner on the couch.

“There has to be a way to stop all this. We can’t just do nothing.” She spoke firmly, frowning.

Henry looked over at his eldest daughter. “If there is, we’ll never know.”

Audrey looked at her father with a determined look as she said, “There has to be a way to find and fight her.”

“The thing is… We don’t know what exactly she is to do it.” Henry pointed out, knowing that he was lying to his daughter, but how was he going to explain that he already knew what the girl was, and how he found out?

She sighed sadly, gathering her books she had laid out on the coffee table. “I… Better get ready for classes tomorrow..”

Henry nodded, disappointed in himself for withholding valuable information. “Alright.”

Joey listened from the other room and felt hopeless. He truly wanted to wanted to help, but unless Henry could turn him into a “Keanrot Magic Proof” cell, there was nothing he could do, and doubted that he would ever be useful.


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we began, I should mention that the two new characters in this Chapter, Shadow and Oliver, belong to My Friend Sage on Amino and are being used with permission. If you happen to be on the Bendy Amino, check out Sage ~Sammy's Little Sister~! She's also Kathy the Cowgirl on the Showdown Bandit amino and Chara~Ghost on the Undertale amino.
> 
> -Zoey

It had been a little while before Henry headed up to his study, where he knew Joey was listening, as he was putting Luna to bed, assuring the girl that Bendy would be alright.

“You heard.” He stated, walking in as he headed over to his desk.

“There has to be something I can do! I- I got everyone in this mess, I need to get them away from this madness!” Joey cried. He was still like the man he had been before the spell, but he had grown to accept that what he had done to all those souls was wrong.

“Like what?” Henry asked, not trying to seem mean, but as a genuine question. What could Joey do at the moment?

“I-I don’t know.” Joey sighed, quickly running out of steam to defend his argument to help.

Henry sat down at his desk, running a hand through his hair slightly as a million thoughts were running through his head about what was going on around him. Everything was spiraling out of control since that encounter, and Henry wonders if that was just the beginning.

Joey let out a yawn, oblivious to the suddenly of him being much more tired than he had been previously. He slowly began to fall asleep, everything around him turning black.

Henry began working on a drawing, hoping to ease his mind for the moment, unaware of Joey falling asleep.

\------

Joey looked around frantically, seeing nothing but inky black darkness of empty space, his fear growing as he was unsure of what lay hidden around him in the dark.

“Henry?” He called into the dark. He didn’t know how he got there and he was well aware that he couldn’t just get up and walk away.

There wasn’t a soul around in this vast space, save for Joey himself, but there were sounds echoing around him. Almost like gears and pumps going from a rather large source.

“Why does that sound so familiar?.. The grinding of gears… The sound of something going through pipes..” He pondered to himself when he spotted someone in the distance faintly, seemingly lost and confused.

“Henry?” Joey called out, praying that it was him.

At the call of his name, Henry turned, looking to see who called out to him.

“I’m over here, Henry! Let’s find a way out of here!” He shouted slightly, not quite sure that Henry had actually heard him from where he was, but he was relieved that he finally seen someone he knew.

It seemed as though Henry barely moved, but now was as close as can be, glaring down at him. 

“You did this to them! You RUINED their lives!” He shouted angrily, an odd thing to come from the man who was abnormally calm through tough problems.

Joey was taken aback, a slight jolt of fear running through him as he stared up at Henry. “I-I know, I’m sorry. You can punish me when we get to your place, let’s just-” He suddenly coughed, and for just a moment he felt like he was choking.

If he had been paying attention to the background noises, he could have heard a fiendish giggle. One that he would’ve recognized from the beginning of the Ink Machine’s ‘Success’.

Joey watched as Henry circled him, almost like a wolf circling its prey, only to watch as parts of his body turned ink black, beginning to melt. He watched in horror as the man started limping around him, still holding that glare as it looked watery.

“H-Henry.. No! Not you! P-Please not you!” He cried out in fear.

“This is your fault..” Henry stated angrily, his form slowing to a stop as his voice sounded watery and bubbly.

Joey could have sworn he felt non-existing tears go down his metal form as he watched Henry become nothing but a puddle of ink that was quickly swallowed by a drain that appeared under him.

“HENRY!!” Joey screamed out to the darkness, another cough-like sound coming from him after.

“You’ll never save them, or rather… You **can’t** save them.” A familiar female voice cooed mockingly. The voice echoed slightly as to confuse him as to where she was.

He gasped and shouted, “Stop this Rhonda! Leave them be, they’ve suffered enough!” He begged, non-existing tears going down his metal form as a mirror appeared in front of him.

It showed his reflection, as a human, smiling darkly.

He wanted desprately to shake his head to clear it. 

“Stop trying to trick me! I still remember your transformation trick! It was you who did all this, I only followed your orders because I thought everyone would be happy!” He shouted at the reflection.

“And look where they are now. Terrified of you and Henry despises you for what you had done.” His mirror self pointed out, feigning remorse but was smirking slightly.

“Shut up!” He shouted as he found himself coughing more, which sounded like machinery starting to break. He panicked as he saw blood slowly seeping out of the openings of his body from the reflection of the mirror.

His human reflection chuckled darkly as it watched. The chuckles that had escaped the being in the mirror slowly trickled into laughter, ones that would cause even a full grown adult to quiver in fear as it echoes in the emptiness.

“Stop it- STOP!” Joey screamed as the blood kept seeping through.

\-------

Joey screamed, waking up from his dream, the echoes of his ‘laughter’ bouncing around his head tauntingly. Henry jumped from where he sat, looking over at Joey with concern.

“Joey?” Henry asked, wondering what had happened to cause such a reaction to a dream.

Joey looked over at Henry as he took deep breaths. “Y-You’re okay…’

“Yeah..? Why wouldn’t I be?” He asked, slightly confused. “Are… you okay? That sounded like a pretty nasty dream you had.”

“I-It was a dream?” He asked, looking around the room, calming down as he looked around the familiar room. It was just the same as before the nightmarish darkness. “I-It was..” He said in relief.

“What happened?” Henry asked, curiously

“I-It was in the dark you were turning into ink and melting, yelling about how mad you were all the while.” He said, shaking slightly, or well, would have been.

“Mad? About what?” He asked, though he heard a very faint whisper of _‘What he had done..’_ by his ear, noting that Joey didn’t react so he assumed that only he had heard.

“A-about what me and Rhonda had done with the Ink Machine. I-I could hear her, she was mocking me. There was a reflection of human me, but dark and blood had been coming out of me-” Joey stopped himself, he didn’t want to freak out again.

“Well, you’re not in that nightmare anymore.” Henry stated firmly, smiling slightly at his friend.

“What if something happens to you though? What if one day I wake up and you're a puddle of ink screaming as you’re draining down a pipe?” Joey asked as he looked up at him.

Henry chuckled, as he glanced at him, saying nothing. After all, he can’t really deny anything to keep his friend from panicking.

\---------

Meanwhile, across town, there was an abandoned factory that was housing four beings set on domination. Unknown to the public, and a grand thing for the ones staying in it… Well, one of the four beings was their pet, but he helps. The abandoned warehouse was dark in some spots on the inside, making it a bit harder for those who wander around to see everything.

In one part of the lighter areas of the warehouse was a liger, chasing a mouse under some tables, dragon/bat wings coming up occasionally as it ran. The mouse squeaked in fear as it scurried away from it.

The cub kept playing literal cat and mouse until he bumped into the legs of his only female owner.

“Aww, Falcor, are you playing with the little mouse?” She cooed softly with a smile as she picked him up.

She turned towards the mouse, who had taken the chance to get even further away from the Cub, and lifted her finger slightly, watching as it was enveloped in the red-orange glow of her magic.

Falcor watched as the mouse was lifted up in the air, squeaking in fear. Falcor flew himself out of Rhonda’s arm and without a moment's hesitation, launched himself at the poor creature.

She smiled a ferocious smile, as Falcor tore into the poor creature knowing he would become a fierce but loyal friend.

“Soon, little Falcor, you will be big and strong.” She praised quietly.

“Didn’t we talk about keeping Falcor off the live food diet for now?” A voice jokingly asked. 

She turned around just in time to see a being come from her shadow, as it slowly took a more humanoid shape.

Rhonda shrugged slightly. “It’s his cheat day.” She said innocently, smiling.

“Do you Keanrots have a cheat day?” He asked, rolling his eyes playfully, the purple misty orb going through the rest of the grey-purple dark out of his eyes.

“Not as far as you know…” Rhonda teased, chuckling as Falcor flew into her arms after he was finished, licking his chops, satisfied.

Shadow, whose name was appropriate, chuckled as he tossed one of the fe-lion’s chew toys at it. “I guess he deserves a treat, he did manage to take a bite of ink out of that Demon during the movie using the device you made to gather it. And the creature didn’t even notice!”

Rhonda nodded proudly. “He did, didn’t he? That demon is losing its touch after all.”

“You two are gonna spoil that cat to death.” The voice of the only human out of the four said as the man entered the room, adjusting his sleeves slightly.

“Not likely. After all, he can’t necessarily die.” Rhonda retorted, chuckling at the only human she likes.

“Sure.” Oliver replied, rolling his eyes at the statement. He knew the only reason he wasn’t going to fall under Rhonda’s reign was because he was Shadow’s brother, “Anyway, you said you’d have an idea to test your newest method to try and take over the world, and see that the test will only raise the Ink Creature count a few. Can I hear?”

Rhonda nodded. “As you both know, there’s going to be a town fair in a few weeks. Many humans, excluding you of course Oliver, will be there. With the ink that Falcor had gathered, we could poison a good amount of them, to test the ink’s ability to spread and change without the Ink Machine’s help.” She stated, going over her plan.

“Won’t they notice ink in their food and drink?” Shadow asked, raising a brow.

“Not if a little magic is used to hide it.” She said, as her eyes glowed slightly from her magic being held dormant at the moment. 

There was a slight smirk from the other two. Now to get part of the plan ready before the fair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those that skip the notes at the top, the two new characters in this Chapter, Shadow and Oliver, belong to My Friend Sage on Amino and are being used with permission. If you happen to be on the Bendy Amino, check out Sage ~Sammy's Little Sister~! She's also Kathy the Cowgirl on the Showdown Bandit amino and Chara~Ghost on the Undertale amino.
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> -Zoey


	9. Chapter 8

It had been a few weeks since Joey’s nightmare, Bendy’s accident at the movies, and Rhonda’s appearance in Henry’s home. Everyone has been keeping an eye out for the Keanrot, as the police had done the same, not wanting anything else to happen to the Stein family.

Henry was working on vacuuming the Living Room, as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs quickly, telling him that someone was eager for the day ahead of them.

“I finished cleaning my room. Can we go now?!” Luna asked as she raced to her father excitedly.

Henry chuckled, turning off the vacuum, and leaned it against the wall. “Let’s wait for Mommy, Bendy and Audrey, Lu.” He told her.

“But they're taking so long!” Luna said, flopping onto the couch.

Henry smiled. “But that just means more excitement after we get there.” He told her, crossing his arms as he turned towards her.

“The fair happens once in a decade, I don’t want to miss a second!” Luna claimed, placing her arms on her hips, reminding him too much of her mother when she got upset.

“W-What’s she whining about?” Joey asked as he slowly woke up, coughing slightly. “And what am I?”

“Want some pancakes till they're done doing what they need?” Henry asked her, knowing she hadn’t eaten yet. As he turned back to Joey to unplug him, he whispered softly, “A vacuum.”, as he leaned down so it didn’t seem suspicious, so Luna couldn’t hear.

Joey felt disgusted for a moment, realizing that what he coughed up, or mimicked the motion, since he couldn’t stop it, was dirt and dust. He was, in a way, force fed, but didn’t make a fuss, just hoping that Henry cleaned it out before he changed him to something else. He was too worried about Rhonda’s possible plans, despite having heard no sittings of the being in weeks, and he was used to this lifestyle by now.

Luna nodded slightly, a smile forming on her face. “ I call dibs on the maple syrup!” She called as she headed to the table.

Henry chuckled again, and turned Joey into a pocket watch when Luna wasn’t looking, and making sure the other three weren’t down yet.

“Sorry about that, Joey. I was getting some house work done before we left for the Carnival today.” Henry told him quietly, heading to the kitchen to start breakfast.

Joey sighed. “It’s fine, I guess…Wait. What carnival?” He asked, slightly confused.

Henry chuckled. “ The town is holding a carnival this year.” 

“Any special occasion?” Joey asked, confused.

Henry shrugged. “Not that I’m aware of. They’ll probably announce it at the opening.”

“Well, whatever it’s for, there better not be many games, or your daughter better not have any luck. I am not going to be a wagon for you to pull anything she gets, along.” Joey said with what would have been a glare if he had a face.

Henry chuckled. “I’m not going to turn you into a wagon, Joey.”

“Good.” Joey sighed. He didn’t like the idea of being dragged along the floor or ground. He sighed as he faintly remembered back when he could freely move. It was almost horrifying how much he forgot the feeling and how distant those memories seemed.

Henry chuckled as he got started on breakfast.

Later, Audrey coughed slightly into her shoulder as she leaned against the wall of a random booth near the entrance. She had been sick for the past week and, even though she was much better, she still felt ill.

Henry turned to Audrey, concerned. “Are you sure you are alright?” He asked her softly.

Audrey nodded at her father. “Yeah, just a cough.” She said with a smile.

Henry nodded slightly. “Alright.”

Luna rushed into the carnival with a laugh as she glanced at her Ink Demon brother.

Bendy chuckled at Luna as she started to pull him to a ride.

“You got to try this!” She said with a laugh.

The pair had ran off to other rides while Linda, Henry and Audrey trailed behind slowly, while Joey did his own thing.

Children and teens were going about the Carnival, some running around, others were casually talking with one another. The smell of popcorn and other sweet candies were floating around the carnival, enticing children to get their parents to buy it for them, as many were pulling their parents to games for them to play. Young couples were laughing as they rode rides, as some young girls watched their boyfriends test their skills with the carnival games. Some walked away with prizes to hand off to their young dame’s, and the others who were misfortunate to lose were being encouraged by their dame’s that they would get the next game.

Amongst the townspeople were Lost Ones and other inky beings that wanted to enjoy the festivities as well. However, no one knew just how quickly the cheeriness was going to disappear _very_ quickly.


	10. Chapter 9

It was late in the afternoon as Joey glanced around from the little bit he could see outside Henry’s pocket. It was mostly children having fun, with their parents close behind them. There were a few Lost Ones and Searchers around as well, making him slightly nervous.

It was fairly obvious everyone was enjoying themselves, but… It seemed that there was less of a crowd then from the beginning of the week. It was strange, to say the least, but Henry chalked it up to people not wanting to come down for the parade this evening.

For a few hours the family had fun in the park. Mostly just going on rides, but there was a bit of game playing and lunch in between. Joey wasn’t having the greatest time, since he just sat in Henry’s pocket the whole time, but it was nice to hear the family have fun.

Henry smiled, as he watched Luna drag Bendy into dancing with her as a band started to play. Audrey chuckled, tapping her foot to the beat. Henry could faintly hear a few people whispering in the background, but it seemed too strange.

Henry glanced at Audrey, smiling softly.

“How long till we go home? I think the noise is finally getting to me.” Joey said with a sigh.

Henry smiled, watching Bendy and Luna. “Soon.” He said quietly.

Luna walked up to him while pulling Bendy. “Daddy, can we get something to eat?” She asked, despite having lunch and a few snacks quite some time ago.

Henry chuckled, nodding slightly. “Alright, little piggy.” He teased slightly.

Audrey rolled her eyes at her Father’s comment. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was slightly hungry as well. She didn’t have any snacks like Luna, hers was more justifiable. “I’ll go find something.”

Henry turned to her, handing her some money. “You can pick something for you both.” He told her kindly.

Audrey nodded, taking the money as Luna went back to dancing with Bendy. “I’ll be back.” She said, and headed to where most of the food stands were, looking for something.

Henry glanced back every so often, as he kept an eye on his youngest and his inkiest. Linda had been talking with a few of her work friends who had showed up for the carnival, and left her be.

Audrey soon came back, carrying a small box. She seemingly swallowed something as she handed Henry back the money he gave her. 

“There was this stand that was giving out free cookies. They have a strange taste to them, but they are good. Kinda surprised they still had a decent amount left when I got to it, people were flocking it.” She giggled.

Henry snickered, pocketing the money so he wouldn't lose it. “People were flocking it?” 

“Yeah, don’t blame them, they’re really good.” She said, going off to look for Luna.

Henry chuckled, noticing two Lost Ones were eating cookies as well.

Despite being almost identical to most other Lost Ones, aside from clothing, Henry could recognize them as the Lost One that would be asking about going home during his advances in Bendyland, and the Lost One who would fish in the Lost Ones town, Dave, who used to be one of the studio’s animators. Judging by their facial expressions, or lack thereof, the cookies seemed fine to them, but there was a confused look on both of their faces.

“Everything okay?” Henry asked the two curiously as he got closer.

“Oh, hello Mr. Stein!” The Bendyland Lost One started to say, but was quickly cut off by the former animator.

“The cookies taste like blood.” Dave said simply, faint confusion being the only hint of emotion on his face.

Henry seemed to pause slightly after hearing that. “What do you mean, Dave?” He asked.

“Well, not human blood. Back in the studio, if we were weak or just so hungry it would drive us insane, but couldn’t find bacon soup, you just drink or, if dense enough, eat any nearby ink. It was common to accidentally drink what was once part of an ink creature, and once you did, you could pick up the taste again instantly. Even if it was mixed with normal ink.” Dave told him.

Henry paused a moment as he took in what Dave had said. He turned quickly to see Luna with a cookie in her hand.

“Henry, I think we just found out where the ink Bendy had lost during the movie went to..” Joey said, scared.

Henry looked around for something to replace the cookie for Luna.

“Act quick, Henry, act quick! Give her something, anything!” Joey shouted.

Henry spotted a candy booth and snatched a lollipop saying,

“I’ll pay for it when I get back!” 

As he ran towards Luna, not noticing the confused and angry look from the booth owner, snatching the cookie from her and replacing it with the lollipop.

Luna was confused by the blur that was her father, and looked at him. “Dad, is everything okay?”

Henry sighed. “ These cookies aren’t good to eat is all.” He said, not wanting to explain to his youngest about what was going on.

Luna shrugged. “Well, tell that to Audrey too. She’s eaten at least three of them by now.” She said, and went to find her ink demon brother once again.

Henry paid the booth owner for the lollipop he had technically stolen, when Luna’s words had finally caught up to him as his eyes widened.

“Oh no..” He whispered in shock as he heard a familiar cough nearby. “Audrey.” He said in realization as he made his way to Audrey quickly, forced to shove some people out of the way.

She was coughing as Linda helped her stand, clearly worried as a small group had stood by, concerned for the poor girl. Henry had stopped in front of the two, panting from running.

“Something’s in the cookies that the Lost Ones recognized.” He told Linda quickly, trying to catch his breath.

Linda looked at him. “What could be in the cookies that the Lost Ones recognized.” She asked.

Henry glanced at her. “Ink.”

“Ink?” Audrey and Linda asked, both in surprise and fear.

Henry nodded.

Audrey coughed slightly, ink coming out. Tears started going down her eyes, but they quickly turned black and full of ink. Shadow reached his arm from his brother’s shadow and gave a slight high five to Oliver, both smirking as Oliver packed up his stand quickly, while watching others get similar symptoms.

Henry picked Audrey up carefully, looking at Linda. “We need to get her to the hospital.”

Linda nodded, panicking. She wasn’t the only one, as the effect started to show on other people too, much to her shock.

Henry ran in the direction of the hospital, shouting at others to hopefully do the same. He was panicking, he knew, but he wouldn’t let Audrey see it. Not while she was in danger.

Joey was jolted from side to side in Henry’s pocket, but for once, he didn’t care. Everything was happening so fast and he was so scared. He didn’t want to accept Rhonda added new victims to her list.

Henry burst into the hospital and looked at the receptionist in slight panic.

“Please! My daughter needs help!” He panted, out of breath.

The receptionist was surprised, but quickly panicked once Audrey came in, falling from her father’s grip from the force of her coughing up ink on the pristine white floors, calling the doctors.

Audrey looked at her father, taking shaky breaths from her coughing fit. “ Dad.. am I.. gonna…” She coughed harshly before she could finish.

Henry glanced down at her softly, kneeling beside her as the doctors came running from a hall with a stretcher. “No, you're not.” He told her softly, but firmly.

\--------

Hours passed, and things weren't quiet for that amount of time. Needless to say, the hospital got quite a few people from the fair who had eaten the cookies. Joey sat silently in Henry’s pocket, as said man sat in the waiting room.

Soon one of the doctors called his name.

“Henry Stein?”

Henry stood. “Yes, that’s me.” He answered.

“We need to talk.” The doctor said, gesturing him to come into the hall.

Henry followed silently, noting most of the rooms down this hall were shut.

“I’m happy to say that we managed to get the ink out of most of the patients that came in, to whom it only caused mild sickness.to.”

“And Audrey?” He asked, concern noticeable in his voice.

The doctor sighed. “She… was one of the unlucky ones. She became a mix of human and ink creature, similar to Jacob Parker, but much more ink creature than human. The area where her tears flowed are now completely black.”

His eyes widened slightly. “Can I see her?”

The doctor nodded, opening the door to her room. Henry looked inside, seeing Audrey. Her yellow eyes were glancing at her, almost completely made of ink, arms. Henry stepped inside, smiling softly.

“How are you feeling?” He asked her.

She looked at her father with what seemed to be a pained expression.

“Could be better.” She sighed sadly, “I feel so… Strange. Parts of me still feel like me, but other parts of me feel so.. Different.”

Henry nodded slightly, sitting in the chair beside her bed. “I’m sorry I couldn’t have stopped it sooner.”

“It’s okay… It wasn’t your fault. No one noticed till those Lost Ones, and by then it was too late..” She said with a sigh.

“I know..” He sighed, taking her hand gently, rubbing it.

Joey listened to them, and was full of regret. She didn’t deserve this, no one today, or from years ago that had fallen to the ink, did. This never would have happened if he hadn’t agreed to that stupid deal..

Henry and Audrey sat in silence, as there was a knock on the door.

“Don’t answer it, it could be Rhonda!” Joey shouted.

“Henry glanced at the door. “Who is it?” 

Linda came in, worried, not bothering with announcing that it was her. All she cared about at the moment was her eldest daughter.

Henry silently wished that Joey would quit assuming that Rhonda was everywhere, as he explained what the doctor had told him, figuring that his wife didn’t stop to listen to one.

“There has to be some way to find out who did this, and at least try and make them fix it.” Linda said, as she walked over to her daughter, rubbing her cheek slightly.

“Well, I have a hunch as to who it had been, but no way of actually finding out.” Henry said, shrugging slightly.

“That dragon girl?” Audrey asked, looking over.

Henry glanced at her, nodding. “Yeah.”

Linda made a tight fist. “If she wasn’t so powerful, I would go and give her a piece of my mind.”

Henry smiled. “I know you would, but sadly I wouldn’t let you anyhow.”

As her parents talked, Audrey glanced at her hand experimentally. She was so sure, for a faint second, she could see it glow.


	11. Chapter 10

It had been a week since Audrey had been let out of the hospital and the family had been excited to have her back. Luna had carried a rather large handmade card, that was still dripping ink, for Audrey. Henry had assumed that Bendy had attempted to help with the card and used too much ink without realizing it.

Joey watched from his audio log form as Audrey smiled at her family, and chuckled as she read Luna’s card. He knew she was most likely putting up an act, not wanting them to see how awful she probably felt. He wanted to scream in rage at Rhonda’s acts, but stayed silent for Henry’s ears’ sake.

Bendy, despite feeling relieved that his sister was, in some way, alright and home, he knew she was sparing everyone’s feelings, especially little Luna. The youngest sister took pride in her card she had made, stating that it would ‘Most definitely’ make her feel better. Sadly, he felt Luna would have been disappointed if she found out the truth. As he watched silently from the sidelines, he noticed her yellow eyes brightened when she was talking with Pops, Linda and Luna, but dulled slightly when they would look away, telling him all he needed to know about his sister.

Audrey went to her room after a while, saying she needed to study for some test. Which was actually true, but that isn’t all she did. She would occasionally look into the nearby mirror and cry, despite having time to get used to this new form that she never wanted.

There had been a knock on her door, after everyone had gone to bed, a slight rhythm that she and Bendy had come up with, giving her a bit of insight as to who it was. She quickly rubbed her tears away, well, the ones that weren’t permanitly running down from her eyes. 

“Come in!” She called.

Bendy walked in, closing the door behind him quietly.

“Hey, Sis.” He greeted softly, noting that her yellow eyes seemed duller than they had been before when he’d seen them.

“Hello, Bendy.” She sighed, glancing back down at her book, whose pages were slightly tainted from her now inky black hands.

“Are you alright?” He asked, wanting to see if she would open up to him.

“Fine…” She lied.

‘So much for her opening up to me,’ Bendy thought dryly.

Bendy narrowed his eyes behind his ink, not liking the fact that she would hide how she truly felt about this whole thing from him, who would understand completely.

“Don’t lie to me, Audrey. Are you alright?” He asked again, firmly this time to let her know that he wouldn’t take a lie for an answer. Not while all of this was going on.

“Don’t take any offence to this, but being an ink creature feels awful! Granted, I’m both a human and ink creature which could be causing part of the discomfort, but it just feels so wrong…” Audrey finally answered, standing as she spoke quietly about what was going through her head to Bendy, who seemed to nod in understanding.

He felt the same way when he was created, and had taken his anger and confusion out on the unsuspecting ink creatures in the studio for about 18 years.

“ I know. I thought the same thing when I had been created.” He told her softly.

Audrey looked at him. “ Yeah… I guess that makes sense. Even if you weren’t exactly turned into another species, being dragged from your world into a form of a monster _can_ make you feel that way.” She agreed.

Bendy chuckled softly, nodding. “I… Wasn’t kind back then, especially not towards Pops when I had seen him in the studio. Sure, I stopped Norman from attacking him, but I suppose in my mind I was saving Pops for myself. I had no one to enact my revenge on, but when he came… I think you can guess where that went.” He sighed.

“18 years of no love can do that to a person.” She told him pointedly.

Bendy nodded in agreement. “Sadly.”

“I… Guess I’m also nervous of what everyone else will think of me.” She told him hesitantly.

Bendy eyed her, silently asking her to continue. There was a reason Audrey was nervous, he could tell.

She sighed softly, willing a small bit of courage to grow so she could tell him.

“There’s this girl that hates Ink Creatures in my class.”

Bendy seemed to stiffen slightly as that.

“Really?” He asked, holding back a growl. It’s not any of the Ink Creatures’ fault of what they’d become.

She nodded sadly. “The fact that they were once human doesn’t seem to process in her brain. She sees them as soulless creatures.”

Bendy growled slightly. “I’m the only one she needs to worry about that is soulless.”

“You have just as much of a soul as the rest of us.” Audrey stated firmly, but quietly.

Bendy sighed, looking at something interesting on the wall. “ Maybe, maybe not. According to Joey, I’m just a monster.”

“Joey was the real monster. You were just a victim.” She said, reaching over and holding his hand gently.

Bendy glanced at her. “And so are you.”

She sighed slightly, glancing to the side.

As she did, Bendy noticed the ink covered papers on her desk, and swiped his hands over them, absorbing the ink.

Audrey looked over, slightly amazed. “It’s crazy how you learn to absorb ink like that without taking the ink off the page.”

Bendy smiled, well more of a twitch since he was already smiling, at her. “I’ve gotten pretty good at not taking the other ink. So long as it’s off an ink creature, I’ll be able to absorb it.” He informed her.

She smiled and sighed. She felt a bit better, but still felt bad. “I need to find that girl and make sure she doesn’t hurt anyone else.” She said, looking at him.

Bendy eyed her gently. “I’ll help.”

She nodded with a smile.


	12. Chapter 11

It had been a few weeks after the events of the Carnival, as Audrey had adjusted slowly to her new form, with Bendy’s help. Joey stayed silent most of the time, unless Henry spoke with him, which at the time was kind of rare since he was focusing on his daughter. He felt awful and he needed- No. He had to help. Henry would check on Audrey every so often as he would also work on animations which would end up being sent through mail to his company so he stayed at home with the family to keep an eye on Audrey.

“Henry, we need to go to the Museum.” Joey said randomly one day.

“Why?” Henry asked, confused as he looked up from the drawing he was working on.

“If I remember correctly, Rhonda had a slight interest in artifacts, but only those rumored to have powers. After the cookie incident only got a few people transformed, and she has been silent for the past week, it may mean she might be looking into things to increase her power. We need to go and check for items that could be used to her advantage.” Joey explained.

Henry sighed. “Great. So a field trip?”

“Yup. Though since most museums require you to pay to get in, and since we can’t afford to pay multiple times to check on different prices of history, we need to check on different pieces of history, we need to sneak in, and it’s going to be hard to sneak past them.” Joey said with a slight hum, trying to think of a plan.

Henry sighed as he and Joey brainstormed on how to sneak in without getting caught.

“Maybe if we go through the vents… No that wouldn’t work…. Maybe if we used a teleportation spell.. Nah, that will kill us.” Joey pondered.

Henry glanced at Joey. “ We could use you if we really need to get in there.” He mentioned.

Joey paused, then glanced at Henry. “ If that’s the case…” He gulped. “So be it, Just don’t you dare break me.”

Henry nodded. “ I won’t break you.”

“Alright. We leave tonight?” He asked, raising a mental brow.

That night, it was quiet, hardly anyone out. No one was watching the Museum nearby.

Henry looked around for a second, heading to the back of the building.

“Alright, what’s the plan?” Joey asked, feeling excited about the idea of breaking into a museum.

“Well, first we have to get in.” Henry said quietly and firmly, as he walked up to the door, pulling Joey out of his pocket and turning him into a set of lockpicks.

Joey glanced down at his metal body(s) slightly, the feeling of being in multiple lockpicks at once, causing him to feel confusing discomfort.

“Uhhh… Are you s-sure you want to head in this very second?” Joey asked with a nervous chuckle.

“You scared?” Henry asked, raising a brow.

“N-no- Of course not!” Joey spoke quickly to defend himself, trying not to be, or sound like, a coward.

“Then can I unlock this door?” Henry asked, chuckling.

“Sure.” Joey sighed, bracing himself for when Henry broke him, why would he make so many of him after all?

Henry chuckled, as he listened carefully when he was unlocking the door. He messed up a couple times, but he still had the same lockpick he started with.

Joey would mumble in pain whenever Henry messed up. His body constantly felt like it was being scratched roughly. He was worried sick about what it would feel like if he broke, and hoped Henry would get it right before he did break.

Henry had finally gotten the door to unlock, after ten minutes of painstakingly tries, hearing a satisfying ‘click’ once it was unlocked.

“Oh thank god!” Joey sighed in relief, and would have collapsed in Henry’s warm hand if he was human but the size of his current body.

Henry chuckled, turning Joey into a pocket watch he opened the door.

“This is just my new ‘Default’ form, isn’t it?” Joey asked with a slight chuckle.

“Better than an audio log.” Henry chuckled, walking in.

“For you, just ‘cause I haven’t complained about it doesn’t mean the ‘ticks’ aren’t still annoying to me.” Joey said, rolling his ‘eyes’.

Henry simply chuckled.


	13. Chapter 12

Henry looked around the empty museum. It was dark and hard to see. After a moment, he saw a camera and had braced for trouble, but then he realized it was off. Looking around, it seemed that a decent chunk of the ones he could see were off.

“Wow… They really aren’t that great with protecting priceless artifacts.” Henry huffed, looking around.

“I guess we should’ve figured that out since no alarms went off.” Joey mentioned, looking around the vast space.

Henry walked further into the museum, noting how much creepier it seemed at night. After a short moment they faintly heard something being knocked onto the ground. 

“It’s them!” Joey shouted, making Henry wince from the sudden shout practically in his ear.

Henry ran to where they heard the noise, spotting Rhonda and two others.

“Rats.” Oliver mumbled as he spotted the man, quickly hiding the picture on the stone table they were stealing.

Henry glared at them, realizing then that he had made a big mistake going head on without a weapon.

“What are you doing?” Henry asked one of the most powerful beings he’s met so far, knowing that he holds no power over them right now, meaning that he was currently at a disadvantage.

Rhonda smirked. 

“Why, Henry, we are just looking at these ancient artifacts for… Research, don’t you know?”

Oliver sighed, stepping away from the stone, eying Henry carefully.

“Shadow, dear brother, could you do the honors?” He asked aloud, confusing Henry considerably.

Shadow jumped from Henry’s, heh, shadow, and two tentacle-like arms came from the inside of Shadow’s cape. One of the tentacles quickly reached out to wrap itself around Henry, resembling that of a striking Boa wrapping its coils around its next meal, lifting him into the air slightly.

Henry struggled, trying to get out of Shadow’s grip, but Shadow just tightened his grip with a slight smirk, not letting the man go.

Rhonda walked over slightly, a smirk playing on her face.

“You must be very stupid coming here by yourself, aren’t you? We could kill you right here, and no one would know until they came in the morning.” She chuckled darkly.

Henry glared at her.

“Don’t you dare hurt my Henry, Rhonda!!” Joey shouted, not caring about the possibility that she could hear him as he let out a growl that could have been mistaken for that of a wolf being just in another room.

“What do you plan to do to him?” Oliver asked, eying Henry with open hatred.

Rhonda looked the man over and gave a devilish smile.

“None of us would be caught stealing because he will be the one here when the security guards arrive in the morning.” She informed, laying out a plan in her head as she informed them.

Shadow smirked. “ It will be interesting to read that newspaper.”

“Henry, turn me into a teleporter, a truck, or even a crowbar! Anything to get us out of here!” Joey shouted from Henry’s hand, wanting to get away, or at least cause harm to these.. Villains.

Henry glared at there he turned Joey into a pocket knife.

“Pocket Knife, to deal with magic enemies, really?!” Joey asked sarcastically.

Henry mentally rolled his eyes and turned him into a sword.

Shadow hissed and let go from the sudden sword hitting his arm.

“Now we’re talking!” Joey cried out in excitement.

Henry dropped to the floor, holding the sword out in front of him.

“You’re not taking anything.” He stated firmly, glaring.

Rhonda eyed the sword suspiciously and then back up at Henry.

“Your little party trick won’t stop us, human.” She sneered, lifting a glowing hand slightly as a ceramic vase rose up beind Henry, unbeknownst to him, who was more focused on the three in front of him.

The bracelet on Oliver’s wrist glowed as he glanced at a nearby water fountain, trying to gain control of it.

Shadow got his second extra arm ready to fight, while holding the wounded spot on the other tentacle.

Unluckily for the Keanrot, the way Henry held the former man allowed him to see the familiar magic glinting off of the sword as a reflection, and managed to glance over just enough to see what she planned.

“Behind you, Henry!” Joey shouted, not wanting his best friend to get hurt.

Henry turned, duckling just before the vase hit him, hearing it shatter on the cement pillar a few feet away from him.

Rhonda gave a primal growl, as her eyes flashed angrily when he had ducked. No human had eyes on the back of their heads.

“Here,” Oliver said, tossing the hunk of stone at his brother, “Let me clean up the mess.”

Just then the water fountain nearby turned on, and a wave of ice, cold water had come out and hit Henry roughly.

Henry grunted, getting pushed back a little bit, as he shivered while his freezing wet clothes clung to him tightly.

Rhonda smirked with a slight frown, noting that Henry hadn’t dropped the sword.

Joey had yelped in surprise when the water hit him too, making his body feel like stone from a lake, and that wasn’t a great feeling.

“I really need to repay you for giving me this.” Oliver said, glancing at the bracelet.

Rhonda glanced at Oliver. “There’s no need to.” She chuckled, glaring at Henry.

“Why… Are you doing this? What is so terrible about us humans?” Henry asked sharply, glaring at her.

“In time, you’ll find out.” Rhonda stated, stepping towards Shadow and Oliver, “Let’s go. We have what we came for.”

“Just let them get away Henry, it’ll be better for us.” Joey said with a sigh.

Shadow nodded. “I’ll see you both at home.” He told them, and jumped into a nearby shadow, disappearing with the stone.

Oliver turned off the water and nearly collapsed, but stopped himself. He didn’t show it, but he was tired.

Rhonda grabbed him carefully, glaring at Henry and disappeared with Oliver.

“Well… at least they're gone.” Joey said, but wished he had their blood on him.

Henry sighed, and turned Joey into a pocket watch again.

“... Why didn’t we just let the cops know our suspicions and stay here?” Joey asked.

“They would have still gotten away.” He sighed.

Joey sighed. “Well… Let’s go before anyone comes in and questions things.”

Henry nodded in agreement, leaving tiredly with a small bit of disappointment.

Meanwhile, across town in the villain's hideout, Shadow sighed as he sat down.

Rhonda was looking over the stone, as Falcor looked up at her.

“Something is wrong with that ‘sword’ of Stein’s.” She hissed angrily.

Falcor rubbed against her leg and purred, trying to calm her down.

“Maybe he just happened to find an actual spellbook?” Oliver suggested.

Rhonda shook her head. “He’s not the kind to meddle with magic.” She said firmly.

“Maybe he had an inventor friend to help him make it?” Shadow asked, glancing over.

Rhonda sighed. “At this point, I’m not sure.”

“So...What’s with the stone we got?” Oliver asked curiously.

Rhonda turned to him, holding the stone, trying to figure out how to explain it.

“The stone has powers, but we need to find out the knowledge hidden in it before it will allow us to take it.” Shadow explained.

Rhonda nodded. “Exactly.”

Oliver yawned, worn out for the night. “Well, I’m heading to bed.”

“We all should.” Rhonda agreed.


	14. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember the Pink-Hair Orange Eye Girl?

A few days had passed since the night at the museum, and nothing seemed to happen since then. However, while Henry was sitting in the front room, the phone had started to ring.

Henry picked the phone up, answering with a quick,

"Hello? Hello, hello?" 

"Henry Stein, this is the police station, we believe we got your dragon girl." A male voice spoke from the other line, which held an accent that the animator wasn’t quite familiar with, it seemed foreign in some way, but he can’t say where. 

Henry's eyes widened slightly. "I'll be there soon." He said to the officer calmly, before hanging up.

"Henry, what's going on?" Joey asked when he saw the man’s expression of slight shock.

"The police station just called. Said they think they got Rhonda." Henry told him, heading to his room to change.

"They did!? She must have been weak... Really weak if they found her. Or she had too much coffee." Joey said, confused.

Henry shrugged. "I'm going to be sure it’s her." He supplied, fixing the tie around his neck.

Soon, they had gotten to the police station, with more than just time to spare, as Henry noticed that it was fairly quiet while he looked around.

One of the police officers who was there for Joey's punishment looked over. "Glad you made it, Mr. Stein."

"Hi, I got a call that the dragon girl had been caught?" Henry informed the officer.

"Yes, she's been surprisingly compliant so far.” The man said, a hint of surprise hidden under his formal tone.

Henry frowned. "Strange."

"We have an interview room ready for her if you wish to speak with her." The officer offered.

Henry nodded. "Lead the way."

The man led him to the room, as Henry looked around, noting most of the cells were filled, the halls were abuzz with noise from the inmates that stayed at the station till they were taken to the county prison. They soon got to the room, where the Keanrot wearing a jacket was facing away, as still as a statue.

Henry rose a brow. "Are you sure this is her?" He asked, noting the purple, instead of dark red that he has gotten quite used to spotting, tips of the wings.

The Keanrot turned around, looking down so they couldn't see her face. "We meet again, Mr. Stein." She said slightly.

"You're definitely not Rhonda." He sighed, sitting at the table in-front of her. "Who are you, really?"

"We only met once before, but I've known you for some time." she said, removing her hood and looking at him.

"You let the police bring you in, Why?" Henry asked, suspicious of her true motives, considering everything that has happened to him thus far.

"My illusion spell went away as I was passing a police cruiser. Knew it was better to go with the law. Besides, I didn't want to hurt anyone." The Keanrot with pink hair and orange eyes explained honestly.

"You're not her, then." Henry stated, sighing softly in relief.

"I knew something was fishy about you!" Joey shouted at the sight of the Keanrot, recalling seeing her at the store the night of Rhonda’s first attack and what Bendy had mention about at his night with Jasmine at the movie tether.

"Rhonda isn't herself either, at least... Not the Rhonda I once knew." The girl said, glancing to the side, an echo of pain in her tone.

"What do you mean?" He asked, curious now that he knew she wasn’t like Rhonda.

She glanced at him. "I'm her cousin, Agatha." She had introduced herself, rather informally.

"What happened to her?" He asked.

"We were just like any other children. Innocent youths who could hardly believe there was evil in the world," Agatha smiles at the memory. "But then…", She frowned, the smile completely wiped from her face like a blank slate, "The 'incident' happened."

Henry sat there, listening, not wanting to interrupt.

She looked at him Slightly. "I rather not go into detail now, but...if you want to know.." She trailed off, not wanting to continue.

"We can wait for that if you want." Henry told her.

She sighed slightly. "Then all you need to know now is that one day, one mistake, erase the Rhonda I knew..." She informed him bluntly, not saying anything past that.

Henry nodded slightly, understanding her reluctance to say more. She doesn’t know him all that well, so why would she tell her past to a human man after her cousin, planning to stop her?

"Henry, we need information, make her tell us something!" Joey shouted.

"Is there anything else at the moment that you can tell me? Anything at all?" Henry asked, ignoring the shouting from Joey.

Agatha looked at him. "I don't know where she is, or what her current plan is... But if it's to revive her old plan, humanity is in danger."

"Old plan?" Henry asked, having no idea there had been a plan to begin with.

"Why she wanted to work with the machine." Agatha stated quietly.

Henry frowned slightly, trying to piece it together, unaware he had all the pieces to the rather large, and world consuming, picture that Rhonda was planning.

"So, how have you been treating Joey?" She suddenly asked.

Henry's eyes widened slightly. "How did you.."

"Who do you think placed the book in a place you guys would find it?" She asked, smiling faintly.

"...She...what!?" Joey shouted, as he found out who got him into this situation. Though, he can’t really blame her for doing it if he was thinking straight.

Henry chuckled, pulling him out from his pocket as a pocket watch. 

"I suppose you had a reason for it." Henry stated, though it sounded more like a question to him.

"Yes. Rhonda may have tricked him, but he shouldn't have agreed in the first place." Agatha explained kindly.

"Don't encourage her, Henry!" Joey shouted.

Henry rolled his eyes slightly, unmuting him so she could hear as well. "Well, she is right." 

"That still doesn't give her the right to have me turn into a stupid item!" He shouted, and would have blushed when he heard her giggle, not realizing Henry un-muted him.

Henry rose a brow at him. "Are you done?" He asked, smiling at his little tantrum.

"Yes.." he mumbled slightly, looking to the side, feeling embarrassed.

Henry chuckled. "Okay."

"I suppose he hasn't had the best time?" Agatha asked curiously and a bit amused.

Henry shook his head. "Not exactly. I accidentally turned him into a spoon... And, well, I try not to remember it."

She chuckled, "I wouldn't have expected that, must have been awful."

"Shut up..." Joey mumbled.

"Hey, not my fault you made me angry enough to mute you." Henry shrugged.

"You should have had control of not turning me into random things!" Joey snapped back, as he had minor flashbacks from that day.

Henry shrugged again. "At least I can control it now though." He pointed out, giving Joey a grin.

Joey sighed. "I wish I could move so I can lay down after all this madness."

"Want me to mute you again?" He asked.

"Joey's a man of illusions, right?" Agatha asked before the man could respond.

Henry chuckled, despite not quite understanding Agatha’s question.

"Why do you ask?" Joey asked the Keanrot.

"Because, I have a spell that you may like." She responded.

Henry tilted his head. "Really?

"It's an add-on to the original spell. One that was created to make the life of the first test subjects easier. It creates an illusion of the captive's former self, allowing them to see and move through the illusion. Like the other factors of the transformation, the Captor controls whether they see from their real body or the illusion, and if others are able to see it." Agatha explained, glancing at the pocket watch.

"Like a two way mirror?" Henry asked, confused.

"Yes. While they have control over the illusion, only the sense of sight is transferred to it. The Captor can also choose when the soul is allowed to use the illusion or not. A few test subjects under both these spells often claim they felt like they were really moving again, even if they still weren't moving a muscle."

Henry glanced at Joey. "Want to do it?" He asked.

"Why is that a question? Yes, please let me have it!" Joey said, suddenly as desperate as he was in his first month to become human again.

Henry smiled, looking at her.

Agatha smiled as well. "Place him down on the table, and I'll cast the spell." she ordered kindly but firmly.

Henry nodded, placing him on the table as told.

Agatha's hand gained a magenta glow around it and there was a small flash of light in the room.

Henry watched silently, not really capable of saying much on this subject since he wasn’t into delving into magic like Joey had.

Soon the light died down. At first nothing seemed to have changed, but then he faintly noticed a faint stream of light coming from the watch. When he looked over he saw what appeared to be Joey, but like a ghost, glowing green and slightly transparent.

Henry raised his brows slightly. "It worked." He muttered in surprise.

Joey looked at his hands, nearly breath taken, as he experimentally moved his fingers. Even though he knew he was still trapped in the watch form and wasn't actually moving, after months of not even having an illusion of moving, it felt so... amazing.

"How do you feel?" Henry asked.

"G-Great. Better than I think I ever felt honestly." Joey said, glancing at Henry with a smile.

Henry smiled back, chuckling. Agatha smiled at them, amused by their antics.

Henry looked at her. "Thank you." He told her kindly. 

Joey nodded slightly to say the same thing, while he focused on looking over his.. Less than physical form.

"Happy to help." she said with a smile.

Henry glanced at Joey. "Are you going to stop being so crabby now?" He asked teasingly.

Joey shrugged slightly. "Not as much, as long as you keep me like this." he said, not trying to disrupt Henry's claim.

Henry Shrugged, knowing he was going to get as much of an answer as he did.

Agatha looked at Henry. "Well, if the police allow me to leave, I should get going." she said, standing up.

"Alright, be careful when you do leave. No one else knows the difference between Rhonda and you yet." He told her.

"I will." The Keanrot smiled at him, "You should probably leave as well."

Henry nodded.

Joey looked at Henry as Agatha left.

Henry glanced at him. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing, I was just looking around, jeez." Joey huffed.

"Alright." Henry said, taking his pocket watch form.

Joey was slightly surprised, having slightly forgotten till then that what he was seeing out of was an illusion. It felt so strange feeling being wrapped in someone's hand while the body he was seeing wasn't.

Henry glanced at Joey. "Want me to turn off the illusion when we leave the station?" He asked.

"Didn't the lady say you can make it to where people can't see it?" Joey asked, raising an brow.

"Oh, right! Sorry.." Henry sighed, making sure that no one else could see him.

Joey shrugged slightly. "It's alright. Just makes sure to mute me as well."

Henry nodded, making sure to put him on mute.

Joey walked beside him as Henry left the station.

Henry noted that Agatha had disappeared quickly, and chalked it up to her magic.

They soon managed to get home, a little later than usual since the bus was late getting to its usual route.

"Linda, girls, Bendy! I'm home!" He called out, heading into the kitchen.

Linda looked over from the meal she was making that smelled of sweet potatoes, seasoned chicken, and green beans. "Where have you been?" 

Henry smiled. "Sheriff called, and thought they found the dragon girl we've been trying to find. Turned out it wasn't." He answered.

She raised a brow "How did they mistake a random person for the dragon girl?" She asked, Shaking her head, not understanding.

"The girl they found was a dragon, too, but she was cooperative with the police."

She paused, and looked over, "You mean there's more than one?" Linda asked, concerned.

Henry nodded. "She's good, though, Linda. Trust me." He reassured her.

She sighed. "I hope you're right. It would be bad if we had another creature after us" 

Henry chuckled, nodding in agreement.

Joey was as far as his light chain would allow him to go, looking around.

Henry watched him from the corner of his eye, a small smile on his face.

"Henry, can you go get Audrey for me?" she asked, turning her attention back to the stove.

"Of course." Henry said, chuckling, heading to Audrey's room.

When they got there, she was missing. "She's been kidnapped!" Joey shouted, thinking the worst.

Henry sighed. "She could have just left without us knowing."

"She went to the nearby park with Buddy and a few of his friends." Luna said.

"Alright, I'll let Mom know. Thank you Luna." Henry thanked her, as he left.


	15. Chapter 14

Audrey was with Buddy and a few of his friends, as they happened to come over and she wanted to get out of the house. She did her best not to let them know something was up, though she was unaware that she wasn’t doing that great of a job.

Buddy watched her silently, a vague sense she was keeping something from them. He had no way of vocalizing his thoughts, but it seemed he wasn’t the only one with the same vague idea about the recently turned daughter of Henry and Linda Stein.

"Hey, I think there's something up with Audrey." Jacob whispered to his wolfish friend as Buddy nodded in agreement.

Audrey leaned down, picking up a pebble and tried to skip it across the lake, but backed up when a bunch of water splashed in her direction. It seemed her rock skipping skills were lacking at the moment, and she didn’t want to know what would happen if she stuck close to the watery edge of the lake.

"What's up with you?" Dot asked, asking the main question that they had been dying to ask, but couldn’t bring themselves to do such a thing.

Audrey sighed, "I guess... Being part Ink Creature has me.. Upset. If you could call it that." She answered, vaguely.

Dot nodded slightly. "That makes sense." She acknowledged, putting her braid up in a bun, getting far too warm from the late afternoon sun hitting the back of her.

"I know just how you feel, felt the same way after my incident with the ink all those years ago" Jacob said, pointing to his one lost eye with his inky arm.

Buddy nodded, pointing at himself, ears perked from listening to the conversation.

"But...you had it worse than I do..." She said, weakly protesting.

Buddy shrugged, as if saying that, “It wasn't any different.”, just from his shrug.

"Buddy's right, take it from a fellow human ink hybrid." Jacob said to Audrey.

"Look, don't beat yourself up for what you couldn't have stopped." Dot said firmly.

"It's not that, I guess part of my problem is that I feel I shouldn't feel as bad as I feel. Buddy and all the other employees were trapped in the studio for years, and even though you and Jacob got away, Jacob had to hide his eye and arm for years and you couldn't ever get any help for either of you." Audrey informed, frowning slightly.

Dot shrugged slightly. "You got me there."

Audrey sighed, sitting by the lakeside.

Buddy sat beside her, giving her silent comfort. Jacob sat on her other side, feeling bad for the poor girl. Dot sighed, deciding to sit behind her and started to braid the girl's hair.

Audrey blushed Slightly when she did, but didn't tell her to stop. Jacob rubbed the girl's back slightly.

Buddy tapped his fingers on his knees. Audrey looked over, slightly curious.

It was off beat, but sounded similar to the opening for the Bendy cartoons.

She sighed, wondering how bad memories of the Cartoons had to have been stuck in their heads after so many years of it being one of their only escapes from day to day life in the studio.

Buddy glanced at her, smiling reassuringly, as if he knew what was going through her head. She smiled back slightly. Despite the dragon girl still being out there somewhere, everything would be okay.

Buddy went back to tapping on his knees to Boris' wolf song. She looked back at the lake, faintly seeing some fishes under the water. Dot sat back, smiling proudly at her work.

"Thanks for that," Audrey said, Looking at her reflection in the water.

"No problem!" Dot said happily.

She sighed, "Well, I should probably head back now."

"Alright, you let us know if you need to talk again, huh?" Dot suggested as Buddy nodded in agreement.

"I will." She smiled as Jacob helped her to her feet.

"We're always here for ya, mate." He said.

Buddy nodded in agreement with that as well, smiling widely.

Audrey smiled and placed a hand on the wolf's shoulder. Suddenly her hand glowed slightly and so did Buddy, as the hand seemingly tried to drain Buddy. It seemed that Buddy was drooping slightly, as though he was tiring quickly. She quickly managed to pull her arm away with Jacob's help, breathing heavily. Buddy eyed her, confused as he shook Slightly from feeling so weak. 

"Oh god, are you ok, Buddy?!" Audrey asked, terrified by what happened just then.

Buddy didn't give any response, unsure himself if he was.

"What on Earth just happened!?" Jacob asked in a panic.

Dot shrugged with a sigh. "I don't know." She answered, glancing at Buddy, then at the shocked Audrey. 

Audrey looked at her arm, noticing it had a yellow spiral glow, as Henry came over, who looked slightly worried and relieved at the same time.

"Audrey, you did ask your mother before you- What happened?!" 

"I-I don't know, I-I just touch buddy and I-"

"Don't give your daughter a heart attack." Joey chastised Henry, a vague sense that Joey was glaring at the man.

Henry kneeled down beside her, as the others had stood up for him. 

"Hey, hey, hey! It's right. Let's head back to the house and talk more after dinner, alright?" He reassured her.

Audrey nodded slightly, as she stood silently, carefully taking her father's hand "Okay..."

Joey looked at the wolf, and at the spiral on her hand. He knew he'd seen something like it before, and it worried him as he wondered if it was part of Rhonda's plan.

Henry helped her up, taking her home.

They soon got home, with Henry constantly reassuring her that she was okay on the way, and Audrey glanced at her arm.

Henry glanced at her slightly. "Are you sure you're okay, sweetheart?" He asked her softly.

"I don't know… All I did was touch Buddy, and then a glowing light from my hand seemingly started draining him, now my arm's glowing" she said.

"We'll figure it out, Audrey." He told her.

"I hope so..." She mumbled softly, glancing to the side.

They had gotten to the house, everyone else was at the table for dinner.

Linda looked over, "Henry, Audrey, is everything alright?" She asked worriedly.

Henry sighed. "We'll talk about it after dinner." He told his wife softly.

Joey sighed as he watched, watching the family Slightly. His mind was full of thought.

The family ate silently, with Bendy glancing at Audrey every so often.

~~After dinner~~

Audrey, Henry, and Linda sat in the living room while Bendy took Luna upstairs.

"So .. what's going on?" Linda asked the two of them, concerned about Audrey.

Henry glanced at Audrey, silently asking her to explain, after all, he didn't see what had happened.

"Me, Dot, Buddy, and Jacob were at the park. I placed my hand on Buddy's shoulder, then he and my arm glowed. It...seemed like it was trying to drain Buddy out of existence." She said.

Henry sighed. "Did you know about being able to do it?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No...It just... happened." She said, worry in her voice.

Henry eyed her gently. "Were you upset at all?" He asked again.

"I could have killed him!" Audrey shouted slightly in despair.

"Yup." Joey said, shaking his head.

Henry sighed softly. " I mean before you touched him." He explained himself gently.

"A little bit..." Audrey said with a sigh, rubbing her arm slightly.

"Could you tell us why? Maybe it will help us understand how to help you control it." Henry suggested.

"It was for the same reason as I was upset while talking to Bendy, and that didn't happen. I was starting to feel better when it happened, too." Audrey explained softly.

Joey looked out the window, slightly wondering what on Earth their lives were anymore.

"Hmm." 

Linda sighed and walked over to Audrey, holding her hand Slightly. "Everything is going to be ok, Audrey, I promise." she said softly.

"I hope so..." Audrey spoke, looking down.

Henry glanced at Joey, making sure the girls didn't see.


	16. Chapter 15

A few days later, Joey sighed as he and Henry went over books they got from the library, trying to find out what their next step would be. It was mostly Henry, though, since Joey couldn't touch the pages.

Henry sighed, setting the book down, not finding anything that was important.

"There's nothing useful in these stupid books." Joey said, face-planting on the table, going through Slightly.

Henry nodded in agreement. "And we've spent three days trying to find things that could be of use." 

He looked at him. "They have to be up to something. Last time they were this quiet, the Fair happened to get nearly a hundred sick guests from those cookies they sold." 

"Hey Pops, you busy?" Bendy called behind the closed door to the study.

Joey, no longer afraid, simply looked at Henry. "Your son’s at the door.”

Henry chuckled. "Come on in Bendy." He called.

Joey watched slightly as the ink Demon came in. Bendy eyed the books on the table curiously. 

"Been doing a lot of researching, Pops?" He asked, glancing at Henry.

"Yes, we have. Appreciate it." Joey said from the other side of the room, frowning. 

Henry nodded. "Yeah."

It seemed quiet, it would have been slightly comical in a sense of cartoon humor had there not been any crickets in the room.

"What happened to have you do research this much?" Bendy asked.

Henry sighed. "That's a long story." He answered instead. 

"What does Bendy want anyway?" Joey asked.

"What did you need?" Henry asked, chuckling.

Bendy shrugged, walking around the office. "Just wanted to see what you were doing."

"Explain why he was a picture of a camping-like place with a cave, then." Joey said, looking behind the Ink Demon's back where the pamphlet was.

Henry rose a brow, finally noticing that Bendy did have an arm behind his back.

"Whatcha' got behind you, Bendy?" Henry asked curiously.

Said Ink Demon sighed, pulling a pamphlet from behind his back. He held it out, almost bashfully, as if he was unsure of his suggestion. 

"Well, I was wondering if we could go here." He admitted, handing it to Henry.

"To a cave?" Joey asked, unamused. "More than likely Jasmine mentioned the place to him and now he's all about that."

"What brought this up?" Henry asked instead.

"I thought it would do us all good to get out of the city for a bit to kind of... Cool off a bit? With everything going on, I thought it would be helpful." Bendy explained.

"That's... honestly not too bad of an idea." Joey spoke, slightly impressed.

Henry nodded. "I'll talk with Linda about it." He promised.

Joey looked up slightly, glancing at Henry.

Bendy smiled. "Okay, thanks Pops." He thanked, turning to leave.

Joey walked over to the window, sighing slightly. Once Bendy left, Henry looked at Joey.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Nothing." Joey said simply.

"You sure?" Henry asked.

"Yeah..." Joey trailed off, not giving any answer.

The weekend soon came, as the Stein’s had arrived at the campsite, the top of the car holding camping supplies, in which Henry and Bendy started to take off. Joey sighed as he floated slightly above the ground. It was strange and he nearly had a panic attack when he first did it, but he found it nice after he got used to it.

Henry was pitching up the tents with Bendy's help, explaining occasionally what needed done or fixed. Luna was doing her best to be patient, waiting for her brother to finish as she kicked stones to compensate for her boredom.

Henry glanced at Luna. "Why don't you help Mommy gather wood for a fire?" He asked, wanting to give her something to do.

"Sure Dad!" She said, racing to help with the task.

"Give her anything non-school related to do and she acts like she just had candy." Joey jokes, shaking his head with a short laugh.

Henry smiled, going back to helping Bendy. Audrey was looking at some flowers, staring silently at them. Once Henry and Bendy finished, the two walked over to where Linda and Luna were placing wood. Linda kissed Henry slightly when he came over, wiping his forehead from the heat.

"How'd it go?" Henry asked. 

"It went fine, I think heading out here was exactly what we needed." Linda told him, wrapping her arms around his neck to use him as a make-shift leaning post, pecking his lips with a smile.

Henry smiled. "Hey, I was surprised that Bendy even suggested it, but I'm glad he did."

"Let's just hope it doesn't storm suddenly." Audrey said with a smile, as she adjusted her hat.

Henry nodded in agreement. Joey walked around the site. Well as far as his curse allowed the illusion to go from his body. Henry noted that the sky did seem darker than it was earlier. Luna looked up at the sky slightly, a bit confused.

Henry sighed. "Let's get the fire started." He told them, walking over to the pile of firewood. 

"Too bad you guys didn't bring a lighter." Joey joked slightly, glancing at them.

Henry got to work, quickly starting the fire, smiling triumphantly when it started rather quickly.

"Alright, now it's time for-" Linda started, getting cut off.

"SMORES!!!" Luna shouted, smiling widely in excitement.

Henry chuckled, rolling his eyes playfully at his youngest. Audrey stayed silent as she glanced to the side, not quite as excited as her little sister. Henry helped Linda get the things ready for smores, keeping Luna from eating all of the ingredients.

"You're gonna love them, Bendy!" Luna said with a smile.

"How do you make them?" He asked her.

"You take marshmallows and set them on fire." Luna stated simply with a bright smile.

"That's a terrible waste of good marshmallows." Bendy stated with a slight frown .

"Well, you just cook them above the fire, then place it and chocolate between two crackers." Audrey said with a smile, adding more to the explanation than her sister had said.

Bendy gave a soft hum. "Huh."

"Did he actually think they were gonna set food on fire to make food?" Joey asked, shaking his head.

Henry chuckled. "Alright get around the campfire."

Luna raced up to it and Linda had to keep her from going into it accidentally. Henry helped Bendy with his as the man made his own.

"God, now I wish I could eat..." Joey bemoaned, as he watched them make the treats.

Henry put Joey on silent for now, keeping his sillouette up so he knew where he was, but for this moment, he wanted to enjoy this with his family. Joey hardly noticed as he was used to Henry not responding whenever his family was near. He had the faint feeling they were being watched, however.

Henry told ghostly stories once it was dark enough. Joey had fallen asleep nearby, floating slightly. Bendy had Luna in his arms, asleep, after listening to the third ghost story for the night, and knew he would be stuck with her the rest of the night, not that he would have a problem.

Soon, the families headed into their tents. The kids in one, the parents and captive in another. It seemed peaceful with the sounds of nature as they all headed to sleep.

The next morning, Henry had woken up early, wanting to check to make sure nothing had gotten to the food during the night. The sun was barely up, so it was still pretty dark. He could hardly see a shadow walking in the distance...Shadow!? Henry's eyes widened in shock as he didn’t expect him to be in the woods.

Joey yawned as he woke up, the illusion walking over to Henry. "What's going on?"

"Shadow’s here." He told Joey, inwardly panicking.

"Excuse me what-" Joey cut himself off.

Henry pointed to where Shadow was silently.

"He's up to something." Joey stated with slatted eyes, trying to figure out what Shadow was up to.

"The question is; What is he doing?" Henry questioned with a frown.

"Should we follow him?" Joey asked Henry, glancing at said man.

Henry glanced at the camp, where everyone was still sleeping, and nodded.

"Yeah, let’s follow him." Henry agreed grabbing a pack with some food and water,

"Alright. Let's go then." Joey said, starting to head in the direction Shadow was going.

Henry followed, glancing back where his family slept. They soon got to an open cave, the inside glowing slightly with crystals within, one of the reasons that Bendy had chosen the area so he could take something back for Jasmine when they returned from the small vacation.

Henry looked around the cave, empty of any living person, in confusion.

"Why do they need to be in here?" 

"They're villains. Villain like to head to the dark places." Joey said, rolling his eyes, stepping into the cave.

Henry shrugged, stepping inside after him.

A faint glow came from Joey's body, but it wasn't too helpful in the dark cave.

Henry sighed. "I should have brought something that held light. I can't see anything."

"If only there was a way to make my own glow brighter." Joey said, glancing at him slightly.

Henry glanced at him. "What?"

"It's faint, but there's a glow coming from me."

Henry looked Joey over, spotting the faint glow. "I'll try and figure something out."

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact the light isn't truly existing?" Joey asked.

"Maybe.." Henry agreed.

Joey glanced around as they walked through the cave, silence occasionally being broken by the echo of water falling onto the ground.

"How far did Shadow even go?" Henry asked, wondering if they had passed him.

"He could be in any of these shadows for all we know..." He pointed out and immediately wished he didn't.

Shadow watched as they 'followed' him through the cave, smirking.

"Is everything in place?" Oliver asked nearby, trying to stay quiet.

Shadow nodded. "They are."

Oliver smirked slightly. "Perfect."

Henry and Joey continued into the cave, unaware of the conversation being held within the shadows. Joey made the motion of kicking a stone as he sighed. "This is so boring, maybe we should just head back to the campsite?"

Henry nodded. "We're not finding anything anyhow." He answered.

"Good thing there aren't multiple tunnels in this cave..." Joey said, turning around.

"No kidding." Henry agreed, sighing.

Joey began to head back to the entrance, talking with Henry as they headed back.

Henry followed Joey, listening to the illusion as he spoke.

"Something’s up..." Joey stated, just as they got close to the entrance.

"What do you mean?" Henry asked, glancing behind him.

Rhonda appeared from the shadows with a smirk. "Hello Mr. Stein." She greeted, shocking Henry.

Henry glared at her, turning around to face her. "Rhonda."

Falcor flew in front of their owner, smiling with a meow.

"What the..." Henry started, slightly confused.

"Have you met my cat?" She asked,.

Henry shook his head slightly. "Can't say I have.." He spoke honestly.

Falcor rubbed against Rhonda's leg as she smiled sinisterly.

Shadow appeared behind him with a smirk.

Rhonda made a nod to Shadow, who grabbed Henry by the arms, pulling him into the shadows.

Rhonda picked up Falcor and pet him with a smirk, heading into another part of the caves.

Henry struggled to scream, going through the shadows, unused to the feeling of suffocating in a vast space.

"We need to get free!" Joey shouted, voice echoing.

"I'm thinking!" Henry hissed.

"Where is he taking us anyway?!"

"How should I know?!"

Joey was silent, mostly in fear.

Soon they had stopped. It wasn’t the feeling of dropping, like they had in the shadows, but they had quite literally stopped. It was as if they hadn’t moved at all, but they had.

Joey immediately looked around, trying to find out where they were, despite it not being familiar at all. Henry jerked his arms out of Shadow's grip, only to find out that he was in a makeshift cell.

Joey looked at Shadow and went to punch him, but his arm went right through, just like the thin air he was.

"Where are we?" Henry growled, trying to sound intimidating.

The answer took far too long to come from their captor, but even then it wasn’t like Henry would be gifted with the answer straight away anyhow.


	17. Chapter 16

"Oh... Nowhere..." Shadow answered after some time, easily leaving the cage through the shadows.

"Get back here punk!" Joey shouted, but knew it was useless.

Henry glared at him angrily.

Rhonda smirked slightly at them, enjoying the power she has over Henry at the current moment.

"Why am I here?!" Henry questioned angrily.

"Oh, no particular reason." Rhonda spoke casually.

Henry glared at her, knowing there was a reason for him being there.

"Well, I guess you can say the reason is to prevent you from messing up my plans far more than you already have." She said finally, giving a slight shrug and then a glare.

"I'm not letting you get anyone else, Rhonda. You went too far turning my daughter." He snarled.

Rhonda shrugged slightly. "Hey, blame Joey. I never would have had the power to do that if he hadn't agreed to the deal."

"But you convinced him." Henry pointed out, eyes narrowed.

"Hey, he was desperate. And besides, you can’t stop me while you're in there." She said pointedly.

"Throw me at her and turn me into a tracker." Joey said simply.

Henry did as told, waiting till Shadow and Rhonda started to walk away. Rhonda smirked at Shadow, unaware of what just happened, as she was seemingly proud of herself at what she and Shadow had accomplished.

As they had their attention turned away from him, Henry smirked at how oblivious they were.

"Alright, now we just need a way out and to call the cops.” Joey started from the tracker screen in front of him.

"Yeah, the only thing is, we don't have keys." Henry sighed, wondering if they should have gone with turning him into a set of keys that went with the cage.

Joey groaned. "And now we can't just turn me into something to break out of the cell..."

Henry sighed, wishing they had thought it through.

"Linda's gonna give you a talking to when we get home." Joey chuckled.

"It'll be more than that." Henry huffed, not quite amused at the moment.

"What do you think they're doing?" Joey asked.

"Probably searching for me." Henry sighed.

"...you think we're gonna die here alone?” Joey asked.

"I don't know." Henry answered honestly.

Joey glanced to the side in shame.

Henry glared out of the cage, wishing they hadn’t investigated..

~Meanwhile~

Audrey came back to the campsite. "He is not around here, that's for sure." She commented.

Bendy sighed, appearing out of the ink in front of her. "I checked near the lake and the deputies office." He informed her, crossing his arms slightly, looking around the wooded area around them.

"He didn't come back to camp." Luna said, looking at her siblings as she pulled her dirty fingers from the doodles she made in the dirt.

Bendy glanced towards the caves, wondering if maybe he had wandered into the caves earlier in the morning..

"Think Dad went there?" Audrey asked, looking in the direction Bendy had.

"Worst case-scenario? Probably." Bendy replied, shrugging.

"Should we check it out?" She asked, glancing up at him.

Bendy nodded. "I'll go." He stated, heading in the direction of the trails that lead towards the caves.

"I'm coming too." Audrey stated firmly, following after him, jogging a bit to catch up.

"Me too!" Luna said, trying to catch up with them.

Bendy glanced at Luna. "Little Bug you need to stay here with Linda. I don't want anything to happen to you in case it's a trap of sorts." He told her firmly.

Luna huffed slightly. "I can take anything that sets up a trap." She said and grumbled as she glanced to the side.

"I'll bring you something back, LunaBug. I promise." He told her gently.

Luna smiles gratefully. "Alright, big brother." She agreed with a giggle.

Bendy chuckled, ruffling her hair playfully.

Audrey walked to the cave looking around curiously. Her arm still had it's glowing spiral, so there was no need to worry about the dark.

Bendy was behind her, glancing around the cave in awe. Audrey noted the crystals glowing in the walls and smiled.

Bendy heard a slight crunch, and glanced down, seeing Henry's crushed watch.

Audrey tilted her head to the side. "Either he's in trouble, or finally decided to get rid of his old watch."

Bendy snorted. "He wouldn't part with that watch of his."

Audrey chuckled. "Yeah .." She frowned and went back to looking around the cave.

Bendy sighed, having no idea of where to go within the cave. He had no idea where the cave ended or continued for that matter.

Audrey glanced at her arm as it glowed. "You know, there's a reason some crystals glow, but none of them glows like these.."

Bendy glanced at Audrey. "What do you mean?"

"Their current competition makes real crystals seem to glow slightly. But these... aren't like those." She told him.

"They look like any other gems, though." He pointed out, waving a hand towards the walls around them.

"In stories, gems that glow often have magic." She explained, gently rubbing a glowing blue one close to him.

"If these do, then how come no one thought to use them?" He questioned.

"Well, most people over the age of 12 don't believe magic is real." She stated with a slight shrug.

"True." Bendy agreed, shrugging.

Rhonda watched them from the shadows thanks to Shadow’s help. "Ready?" She asked him, her eyes glowing slightly.

Shadow nodded. "Ready when you are."

Rhonda smirked. "let's go." 

Shadow smirked, disappearing further into the shadows for a sneak tactic.

Audrey glanced around. "Someone's watching us." She said suddenly.

Bendy looked around with a glare, ready for anything.

She turned around to see Rhonda, who was smirking widely.

"Hello." She greeted with a sneer, pretending to pick at her claw-like nails.

"What are you doing here?" Audrey questioned suspiciously, eying the Keanrot.

"You should know. After all, your father isn't with you right now, is he?" Rhonda questioned, chuckling.

Audrey gasped and then growled. "What did you do to him!?" She shouted, ready to attack the dragon-girl.

Rhonda rose a hand slightly, as Shadow appeared behind them. His shadow tentacles at the ready.

"Please. I just put him somewhere where he wouldn't interfere with my plans." Rhonda sneered.

"You better let him go, or your horns will end up on my wall!"

"Temper..." Shadow drawled, rolling his eyes.

Rhonda chuckled, smirking. "My.. you have such spirit in you." She teased.

"You can hurt and change me all you want, but no one touches my family." Audrey stated firmly.

Rhonda narrows her eyes. "Your family was getting in my way." She insisted.

"Because you're evil and have awful plans for my kind, who did nothing wrong!"

"Your kind killed my brother!" She hissed angrily.

Everything fell silent, no one spoke for a few moments.

"You... didn't tell me that." Oliver whispered to his brother, a bit betrayed.

Rhonda glanced at the boys behind Audrey and Bendy.

"Let's go."

Shadow glanced at her sadly, stepping forward slightly. "Rhonda..."

"Wait... where's..." Audrey spoke to herself, slightly confused.

Rhonda glared at him. "Shadow. Let's. Go." She ordered sharply.

Shadow nodded slightly and disappeared into the darkness.

Rhonda grabbed Oliver and disappeared in a puff of red smoke.

"Her brother was...killed?" Audrey questioned, confused.


End file.
